Zuppa Toscana

I promised my mom I'd send her my recipe for Zuppa Toscana and Chicken Gnocchi Soup. This seemed like the best way to make it legible. 😁 The great thing about the recipe is, it's a one pot recipe. You only need an extra bowl or plate to hold the meat after it is cooked so you can work on the veggies.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Spicy Italian Sausage - ground
• 1 lb Bacon - cut into pieces about 1 in
• 1 Small Yellow Onion - diced
• 3 Russet Potatoes - diced, peel or no peel your choice
• 1-2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
• 3 (or more if you want) cups Chicken Stock/Broth - I use low sodium
• 2 cups Water
• 1 cup Heavy whipping or Half n Half cream
• Kale - cut the leaves from the stems and coarsely chop them or just buy already prepared.

Seasonings - These are what I used, but you can use whichever ones you want. I don't measure them, I just season to taste.

• Black pepper
• Very little salt - the bacon and sausage provide plenty of saltiness, but I added a pinch of salt to bring out the flavors of the veggies.
• Cayenne pepper - not too much unless you like the heat
• Oregano
• Paprika 
• Dried Basil
• Nutmeg
• Dried Parsley - add with the cream

Steps:

1. Add a little oil to a large pot. Brown the sausage. All the recipes I looked at said to use a wooden spoon. I'm not sure why that makes a difference, but I did just in case. Anyway, break up the ground sausage just like you would for spaghetti. I let it carmelize a little before I scooped it out into the bowl. You don't want to drain it. You need the drippings for the next step.
2. Now, cook your bacon in the sausage drippings. We don't like ours very crispy, but I suppose that's a matter of preference. As it cooks, scoop out the pieces that are done and add them to the bowl with the sausage. Again, leave the drippings.
3. Now, you can drain some of the drippings if you feel it's too much. But you want enough in the pot to kinda coat the onions. Add the onions and potatoes into the pot. This is where you add your seasonings. Everything except the parsley. I suppose you could add that now, but I usually wait. Saute until the onions are clear and soft to your liking, then add the minced garlic. Stir that around and let it become fragrant. It only takes a couple of minutes. 
4. Now add your bacon and sausage back in along with your chicken stock/broth, and your water. We wanted our soup to be less brothy, so feel free to add to our liquid amounts if you want more broth to bite ratio. Stir really well, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to bring up all the delicious flavor from sauteeing. Come to think of it, that's probably why they say wooden spoon.  So you don't scratch your pot. Anywho, bring this up to a rolling boil, then cover, turn down the heat to medium high, and let cook for about 20 - 30 minutes. You want the potatoes tender but not mushy enough to mash. 
5. Now add your cream, kale and parsley. Stir it well until the cream fully incorporates into the soup. Cover again and simmer for another 10 minutes.

And there you have it! We topped ours with a little shredded parmesan. And a little went a long way! 

Now I haven't made the chicken gnocchi yet. But it's essentially the same recipe with a few substitutions. Instead of sausage, use ground chicken. Instead of kale use spinach. And instead of potatoes you use shredded carrots. The main difference is the gnocchi. It's a potato pasta so you don't treat it like the potatoes in Zuppa Toscana. It doesn't take as long to cook, so you add it with the cream and spinach. Near as I can tell, Chicken gnocchi soup doesn't take as long to cook. But I can't say for sure. We're testing that theory tonight. I'll let you know!