Thursday, March 27, 2008

food and yarn porn

tasty soup for lunch, a copy cat recipe for Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana from http://www.tuscanrecipes.com/recipes/olive-garden-zuppa-toscana.html

I've been making this soup for years. It's an absolute favorite. Some of the things I've adjusted over the years are in parenthesis below. Do make this soup you won't be sorry.

1 lb ground Italian sausage

1½ tsp crushed red peppers (I use a scant teaspoon, while Ken likes it really spicy, I find a little less pepper to be more tolerable)

1 large diced white onion

4 Tbsp bacon pieces (I use about three quarters of a pound, cut into one inch bits before frying crisply. Can you ever have too much bacon?)

2 tsp garlic puree (I use one fresh, minced garlic clove)

10 cups water (I usually buy one of the large cans of chicken broth and add half a can of water. This seems to be a good mix for the broth/water required)

5 cubes of chicken bouillon

1 cup heavy cream

1 lb sliced Russet potatoes with skins, or about 3 large potatoes (I quarter the potatoes before slicing. It's much nicer to not have potato skin strings hanging from your chin as you eat)

¼ of a bunch of kale

Saute Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients. In the same pan, saute bacon, onions and garlic for approximately 15 minutes or until the onions are soft. (I usually fry up the bacon in the same pan, adding the onions and garlic after the bacon is nicely crisped) Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling. Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour. Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated. Don't boil the soup after cream is added. Stir in the sausage. Add kale just before serving.

So good.

and for dessert:

new fiber to rub on me naughty bits


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7 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Uh-huh. You're apparently a yarn slut. Or is that a yarn ho. Whatever. Thanks for the recipe -- it looks great. I had to laugh, as I was reading the recipe, my eyes got ahead of ye olde brain and before I could catch up, I thought I was reading "1 lb sliced Russet potatoes with skeins" -- yeah, just throw that yarn in the pot!!!

Tallulah said...

I'm fairly certain it is breaking some sort of code, law or ethic to not put the kind of yarn in your post for those of us drooling over the beautiousness. Yup, here it is, 7th paragraph, line 68, third, fourth,fifth, sixth and.,.yeah... "thou shalt not hoard the yarn info to oneself" mhmm. See.
tsk tsk.
it's lovely yarn, and the soup..how have I not made any of this yet. Speaking of soup.. Oh. Em. Gee. Get to Pioneer Woman and make her tomato soup.... I don't think I can ever make canned soup again.

Mom O Matic said...

I have never seen that soup at our Olive Garden! We only have minestrone and that other one that's just like minestrone but has more beef and noodles.

Dragonfly7673 (Vicki) said...

Let me guess... JL Vinca?

those cookies look great, now I want some chocolate!

susan said...

roflmbo!!!
rub on my naughty bits!!!!
hahhaha

Anonymous said...

I always order that soup with salad at OG. Thanks for the recipe!

Creative Minx said...

10/16/09 ~ I finally made this soup for Jim and Leslie. I'm going to be honest, because that's me :) The night I made it I thought it was a little bland. It tasted like it needed some other spice in it. (Jim and Leslie loved it the first night.) BUT THEN.... I got it out 2 days later for lunch and O.M.G.! The tastes had married and it didn't need ANY more spice. It was a grade A for me 2 days later! Thanks so much for this recipe.