Soup–8-10 servings
Ingredients:
• 2-28 oz cans diced tomatoes (I use petite diced, but either size is good)
• 2-32 oz box chicken broth
• 2 cups water or a third box of chicken broth (not always necessary-depends how muh it cooks down)
• 2 packages (usually 5 per package) Italian turkey sausage –Jennie-O makes both of these, I use one spicy and one mild, but you decide per your taste, some people don’t like spicy. Sometimes I use Trader Joe’s Italian chicken sausage when I don’t feel like going to more than one store—and it works fine.
• 1 small/med onion diced (about 1 cup)
• 4-5 minced fresh garlic cloves (or 1-2 T minced garlic from a jar)
• 3-4 Zucchinis sliced and halved or quartered
• 1 red, orange or yellow bell pepper diced (or half of each color)
• 1 package white or crimini mushrooms, washed and sliced in half
• 2 TB Basil
• 1 TB Oregano
• 1 TB Salt (or to taste)
• 1 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
• 1 tsp crushed fennel seed (optional)
If you want to simplify spices, or if you don’t have the above, just add 2-3 TB Italian seasoning and salt and pepper.
STEP 1:
Start tomatoes, chicken broth, onion, garlic and herbs/spices cooking into a low boil.
STEP 2:
Wearing disposable kitchen gloves (I don’t like getting it under my fingernails), push/pull the meat out of the sausage casing to form bite size sausage “meatballs”. Let them drop directly into the boiling pot of tomatoes and broth. Let boil for about 15-20 minutes so meat is cooked through.
STEP 3:
Add the rest of the vegetables (zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms).
STEP 4:
Reduce heat and simmer for at least
an hour for the tomatoes to break down and all the flavors to combine. I like to let it simmer for 2 hours on low, with a lid loosely covering it. You can also transfer it to a crockpot at this point and let it simmer on low for 3-4 hours. I prefer to cook the meat thoroughly before transferring to crock pot. My cousin made this soup with pork Italian sausage instead of turkey, and put all the ingredients in the crockpot on low all day. She ended up in the hospital with food poisoning!
My advice: don’t cook meat in the crockpot on low, ever! Unless you pre-cooked the meat thoroughly before transferring to the crockpot.
STEP 5:
Check liquid volume and add more broth or water, if it reduces too much while simmering. And add more salt and herbs to your taste.
STEP 6:
Serve garnished with parmesan cheese (crucial) and fresh basil if you have it.
TIP:
You can also add other vegetables that you like, green beans are good. And to turn it into an Italian Wedding Soup, you can add spinach (chopped) and pasta (precooked al dente (under cooked) smaller pasta, like a shell, or farfalle, or fusilli, at the very end).
This entire recipe can be adjusted as to quantity of ingredients. More veggies, less sausage, more or less liquid. Although the sausage and vegetable quantities are accurate, I don’t actually measure any of the other ingredients (spices or liquids) and just add them until I reach the desired flavor and thickness. So add more liquid once you’ve added all the other ingredients and you see how thick or thin you want your soup ( I prefer a “stoup” – thick soup, more like a stew) but tastes differ, so you decide! And taste it as to quantities of herbs and spices.