While this is the most wonderful time of the year, which requires eating tons of cookies and candies, there's always room for a little something savory and maybe a tad healthier too, right? I made this hearty soup last weekend during the snowstorm, and it was the perfect thing to warm up with and fill up on. So take a brief break from all those sweets (and all the shoveling and ice scraping) and try this festive red and green soup.
The original recipe calls for a less tomatoey base. I read "one 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, crushed" and knew I was supposed to get whole tomatoes and crush them, but somehow when I was at the store, I still grabbed crushed tomatoes. I realized my mistake as soon as I opened the can, but I decided to use them anyways. I'm glad I did because the crushed tomatoes gave the soup more intense tomato flavor and a gorgeous red color.
The original also calls for three types of greens: spinach, kale, and escarole. Escarole does not come anywhere near my plate (I'm not very picky, but there are a few things I dislike and escarole is one of them), so I decided to use baby kale and baby spinach in the soup. The grocery store thwarted me again: There was no baby kale to be found, so my greens were pared down to just spinach.
In the end I had a hearty, robust tomato soup that was chock-full of tender potato slices, punctuated with browned sausage crumbles, and laden with green baby spinach. It's wonderful on its own but can even be perked up with a little grated Parmesan.
Tomato Soup With Sausage, Spinach, And Potatoes
(adapted from Food & Wine)
This flavorful red and green soup features a tomatoey broth, sausage crumbles,
potato slices, and baby spinach leaves.
Print this recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
12 ounces baby white potatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 shallot, sliced thin
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
6 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 basil sprigs, plus extra for garnish
12 ounces baby spinach
Kosher salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking up with wooden spoon, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to paper-towel-lined plate using slotted spoon.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil, potatoes, shallot, and garlic to pot. Cook, stirring often, until shallot is softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, stock, and basil sprigs and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender (tip of paring knife can easily be inserted), about 25 minutes.
Discard basil springs. Stir in spinach and sausage. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve soup, garnishing individual servings with extra basil.
Quick side note: You may have noticed I took a brief hiatus from Soup Sundays posts. It's not because I wasn't making soups -- I swear I was. Just nothing was truly blog-worthy. I made a beef stew that failed miserably, and then I made this old-favorite beef stew (I highly recommend it for a simple, tomato-based stew). And around Thanksgiving I made turkey stock and soup. I'll probably take another hiatus during the holidays, but there will be more soups to come in January.
Have you had any great soups lately?