Bek's Spicy Tuscan Soup

Submitted by Gatorbek

"I've seen several Tuscan Soup recipes out there, so here's mine. I have a penchant for spicy Italian, but please feel free to sub milder ingredients, if that's your thing. I don't know why it would be, but if that floats your boat... Serve with some warm crusty bread and enjoy!"

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 5 cups chicken stock (sub canned if needed)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb Italian sausage, spicy (I use Johnsonville)
• 3 large potatoes, cubed (NOT peeled)
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (10 ounce) can rotel tomatoes and green chilies, NOT drained or (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes, flavor of your choice with juice
• 6 ounces fresh spinach, chopped with stems removed or 6 ounces fresh Baby Spinach, chopped
• 1⁄4 cup evaporated milk or 1/4 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper

directions

1. Remove casings from sausage links and slice. Place sliced links in a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium high heat and brown until no longer pink. Drain excess grease, but do not rinse.
2. Reduce heat to medium, add onion and cook until soft, stirring often. Add garlic and sautee one minute longer (careful not to scorch it!), then add stock and potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are fork tender.
3. At this point, if you prefer a thicker broth, feel free to hit it with an immersion blender for a couple seconds, or mash some of the potatoes with a fork and stir in to the broth. The addition of the cream at the end will thicken it slightly, but use your judgement and your family's preference as your guide.
4. Add beans, tomatoes, and spinach, simmer until spinach is just wilted but still green, 1 - 2 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in milk or cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper, serve with crusty bread.

Reviews

[The Romantic Chef]

This is a recipe I make frequently; there's something very satisfying and comforting in a spicy thick (meat & potatoes) soup. Both to taste and to look at. It's great because as long as you have the main ingredients, you can adjust it for what you have in your kitchen. I don't always use the cream and it's just as delicious, and most of the time I'll add a couple of fresh jalapenos (cored and removed before serving) to make it extra spicy. I always cook it with spinach because it works so well here. I don't use beans, but as it is here, I like to use the Johnsonville spicy sausages for this recipe.

 

[Maito]

This was delicious! I used Mexican chorizo for the spicy sausage, and only half of it, since I know just how spicy it is. Loved the chorizo with the potatoes. All great flavors.

 

[duonyte]

This soup has been in a cookbook for me to try for ages, and I finally did. It is very delicious and nicely spicy. I used my own broth, made without salt, and beans that I cooked myself from dried, and found that this was sufficiently salty, no additional salt needed. I also used just half the sausage, although I might add more to the leftovers. The soup is very thick and I ended up adding some water (my broth is very rich and this did not thin out the flavor). I did add some chopped lovage with the potatoes - that adds a little bite also and worked very nicely. I just downed one big bowl and am heading back to the kitchen for another. Lovely and warming on a cold afternoon.

 

[Karen Rumple]

Delicious Soup....I misread the recipe and added both the tomatoes with chilis AND the diced tomatoes. Turned out very good. I made this for my family visiting from out of state and everyone wanted the recipe.

 

[Kyene]

Oh man! This soup was so good! I'd give it a thousand stars if I could! I did change a few things. I used bite sized chicken chunks instead of sausage (didn't have any). I threw in some chopped fresh basil, and used fresh diced tomatoes. And to serve I topped the bowls with shredded Parmesan cheese and chives. Yummy!!!!