I normally don’t post this soon after I make a recipe ……..but Bratwurst Minestrone just couldn’t wait!
It is absolutely freezing today…….with wind chill it feels like -13……thats right minus! So, it’s the perfect day for soup.Continue reading “Bratwurst Minestrone”
Happiness is hot soup on a cold and rainy day…….Chicken Gnocchi Soup!
This soup will warm you to your very center. Creamy, with chunks of chicken, veggies, and gnocchi.
What is gnocchi you ask? Gnocchi are Italian dumplings made with potatoes and flour and boiled just until they’re like fluffy little pillows. You can make your own or purchase them at the grocery store. I purchased mine. They can be in the dry pasta isle or in the frozen section. I bought from the pasta isle.
I tried a dish with gnocchi a few month ago with dismal results. I think I must have over cooked them as they had a pasty, gummy taste. But I was not going to give up………Continue reading “Chicken Gnocchi Soup”
Sunday was soup day…..White Bean Sausage Tortellini Soup!
Tim and I are of the Mexican or Italian taste palette. This time it’s Italian……Molto bene (very good)……ok, I don’t know Italian, so I looked it up!
Funny how something with simple ingredients can come together and be awesome. Precooked sausage…….Oscar Meyer has an Italian Herb flavor that I really think made this soup. Any precooked sausage or Polska Kielbasa will do.
Onions are a base for almost all soups, but for this dish I added some fennel …….lesson time……. Fennel plants have leaves that remind me of dill and you can eat the “fronds”…..thats what the dill looking part is called. Not only can you eat the leaves, but the seeds and bulbs as well. Fennel looks kind of like a cross between an onion and the base of a bunch of celery and has a sweet anise-like flavor. But it doesn’t taste like licorice… it is a light, bright spring-like flavor. Plus, fennel is good for you, it contains Vitamins A and C, as well as potassium and calcium.
Garlic, which no respectable Italian dish is without….just saying, a pinch of red pepper, gotta have a touch of heat….some chicken stock……please use stock, you will get a much better flavor.
I added a can of white kidney beans….a.k.a. Cannellini beans and spinach for greens.
OMG….I almost forgot the tortellini……hard to make White Bean Sausage Tortellini Soup without it. Silly me….
The whole thing takes all of 30 minutes……who doesn’t have 30 minutes??????
30 minutes to an incredible, warm , hearty soup…….White Bean Sausage Tortellini Soup. Serve it with asiago or parmesan cheese and some crusty bread….delicious!!!!!!!!!
13 ounces package Italian Herb cooked sausage, sliced thin
1 onion, chopped
1 cup fresh fennel bulb, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
2– 32 ounce cartons chicken stock
4 cups baby spinach
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed, drained
1 9-ounce package cheese tortellini
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
Instructions
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add next 7 ingredients. Sauté until vegetables are soft and kielbasa is brown, about 12 minutes. Add stock and bring to boil. Stir in spinach and beans. Reduce heat and simmer until spinach is wilted, about 4 minutes. Add tortellini to soup. Simmer until pasta is al dente, about 5-7 minutes.
Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle with asiago cheese.