Zuppa Toscana

I recently came across this soup recipe and made it tonight - it was so good! I don't think I have ever put potatoes in soup before (I always add pasta), but this was delicious and is the perfect recipe for anyone who is gluten-free. Apparently this soup is served at Olive Garden, which I do not go to so I've never had it. There are many copycat recipes out there and most have bacon and kale in them but this one was more appealing to me. This recipe is very straightforward and easy and I much prefer spinach over kale. Sadly I can't have heavy cream but I found a Country Crock dairy-free alternative that I used, which worked well (this Silk one is even better). It would have tasted just fine without it though (if you leave it out, replace it with a bit more broth). I really love the addition of flour which makes the broth thicker than most soup recipes. I did find that it needed more salt and pepper so I increased those amounts below, and I still added more of both at the end of cooking. Otherwise I followed the recipe and wouldn't change a thing next time.

This recipe did not make that much but it was enough for my use tonight, so depending on how many people you are cooking for you might need to double or even triple the recipe. My husband wasn't home but I had 2 bowls of it, one of my sons had a very small bowl of it and I gave the rest to a friend who isn't feeling well. I also made bread this morning and dipping the toasted crusty bread in this soup was amazing.

This is a delicious, hearty soup - a great fall and winter recipe that I'll be making again very soon!

Edit: This soup was so good that I made it again the following night when my husband was back home. He loved it! This will be in our dinner rotation for sure.

Zuppa Toscana

Recipe from Once Upon a Chef Blog

 

Make delicious Zuppa Toscana at home with this easy recipe! It’s filled with sausage, potatoes, and spinach in a creamy broth that feels like a satisfying meal on its own. 

 

1 pound Italian sausage (mild or spicy, depending on your preference), removed from casings

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups chicken broth

1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, diced into ½-inch pieces

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional, for more heat)

2 cups baby spinach, stems removed, packed

½ cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for serving

 

In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the sausage over medium heat, breaking it up into small pieces as it browns, 5 to 7 minutes. Once browned, use a slotted spoon to transfer the sausage to a colander in the sink to drain, leaving about 1 tablespoon of the drippings in the pot for sautéing the vegetables.

 

Add the diced onion and carrots to the reserved drippings (if the pot seems dry, add a bit of oil). Sauté over medium heat until softened, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Do not brown. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir until fully incorporated, about 1 minute.

 

Gradually pour in the chicken broth, and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the potatoes, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes (if using). Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer. Stir occasionally to prevent the potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

 

While the soup simmers, transfer the sausage to a paper towel-lined plate. With more paper towels, blot the sausage to absorb any excess grease.

 

Add the baby spinach and cooked sausage to the soup. Simmer until the spinach is wilted, a few minutes. Stir in the cream and cheese and continue to simmer until everything is warmed through. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if needed. Serve hot, passing more cheese at the table.

 

Serves 4.

 

Notes:

Make-Ahead Instructions: You can prepare the soup up to 2 days in advance. After cooking, let it cool to room temperature, then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, reheat the soup gently over low heat, stirring occasionally, until warmed through. You may need to add a splash of broth or water if the soup has thickened too much.

 

Freezing is not recommended.

 

This soup is endlessly adaptable, so don’t be afraid to play around with ingredients depending on what you’ve got on hand. A few ideas:

·       Swap the sausage: Use turkey or chicken sausage in place of pork.

·       Toss in extra veggies: Diced bell peppers or mushrooms would be great; just sauté them first. If you want to swap out the spinach, kale or Swiss chard would work well. (Because they’re both sturdier than spinach, add them a little earlier so they can soften up.)

·       Add beans for heartiness: White beans (like cannellini or great northern) give the soup one more layer of texture and add a creamy bite.

Before adding the cream in

Spinach Lasagna

A few years ago my sister Regina made a delicious Spinach Lasagna. She got the recipe from my cousin Gabrielle. I made it once, two summers ago, and wrote down a few changes I made to the recipe, mostly that I tripled the amount of sauce and had to bake it at a higher temperature and for longer. I made it again today, but this time I used homemade lasagna noodles and it was even better! I also used Breakstone's Whole Milk Ricotta, which doesn't have the additives most store-bought ricotta has in it. It's just milk, vinegar and salt, the way ricotta should be. I always prefer homemade ricotta but I don't always have time to make it, so this was a nice alternative without any added junk. I also shredded a block of mozzarella rather than using pre-shredded cheese.

The recipe below is based off the recipe from my cousin Gabrielle, with the changes that I made to mine. This is a delicious meat-less meal, but you can easily serve it with cooked sausage links, bread and salad to make a complete meal.

Since this is a bit of a process and takes a while to make (it took me about 4 hours), this is what I did. I started out by sautéing the spinach. I let it cool while I began to make the sauce. While the sauce cooked, I made my pasta dough. While my dough was covered and resting, I blended the tomato sauce with an immersion blender, chopped the spinach, mixed the ricotta filling, and shredded the mozzarella. I used my new Marcato Atlas 180 roller and went to thickness setting #8. Once all of my dough was rolled out into long sheets, I cut the sheets the same length as my lasagna dish. I let them rest for 10-15 minutes before I started assembling my lasagna. I did not parboil them - there's no need to as long as there is enough sauce covering them. I used 2 lasagna sheets for each of the 3 layers. This was the perfect amount of dough for 1 lasagna plus a long sheet leftover that I cut into pappardelle for my son who doesn't like lasagna. I had enough sauce for 1 lasagna, the pappardelle, extra sauce to serve on top of everyone's pieces of lasagna and about 5 cups left that I froze for a future meal.

I had my sister and her husband over for dinner and between the 5 people eating lasagna, we only had 1.5 pieces left. This lasagna is so good and I'm sure I'll be making it again soon!

Spinach Lasagna

Adapted from Gabrielle Capobianco Feezer

Sauce: 

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

3 6-ounce cans Tomato Paste

2 6-ounce cans water

Red wine, to taste

3 28-ounce cans Whole Tomatoes

Salt and Pepper, to taste

 

Ricotta Mixture:

1 bag of frozen Spinach OR 11 ounces fresh Spinach, chopped

2 pounds Ricotta Cheese

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Salt and Pepper, to taste

 

Lasagna:

1 box Oven-Ready Lasagna Noodles or 1 recipe homemade lasagna noodles

1 pound Mozzarella cheese, grated

Parmesan or Romano cheese, grated - to taste

 

To start, make the sauce in a 6-quart pot. Heat the olive oil in the pot over medium heat. Add the minced garlic - be careful not to burn it. Cook for a minute or two and then add the tomato paste and water. Add red wine. Stir to combine and then add the whole tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, partly cover and turn the heat to medium low and let it simmer.

 

Before using the sauce in the assembly of the lasagna, using a potato hand masher, squish the whole tomatoes. This is more easily done when the tomatoes have been cooking for a little while. This will give a chunky sauce. If you prefer a smooth sauce, use an immersion blender at this point. Alternately, blend the whole tomatoes, tomato paste and water in a blender first before cooking it with the garlic. You can also use crushed tomatoes that don’t need to be blended at all, if you prefer.

 

If using frozen spinach for the ricotta mixture, defrost with warm water and set aside. Drain and squeeze out most of the water before adding it to the ricotta mixture. For fresh spinach, heat a little oil in a pan and sauté the spinach until cooked. Let it cool and then chop up the cooked spinach.

 

In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, eggs and spinach. Stir to combine completely and then season with salt and pepper.

 

Using a 9x13 baking dish, add a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan, then place a single row of noodles. Spoon half of the ricotta mixture over the noodles and then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Spoon a layer of sauce and then sprinkle with grated parmesan or Romano cheese. Repeat this entire layer order one more time and then finish with another layer of noodles, topped with sauce and then finished with grated parmesan or Romano cheese.

 

Preheat oven to 350°. Place a sheet pan on the bottom rack of the oven in case any sauce spills over. Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and cook for 30 minutes and then continue cooking uncovered for an additional 15 minutes. (Note: depending on your oven, you may have to cook at a higher temperature or for a longer time. I cooked mine at 375° but it took over an hour).

Italian Orzo Spinach Soup

Last winter I made an Italian Orzo Spinach Soup recipe that I found online. I remember it being OK but not loving it. It was pretty cold today and is supposed to be the rest of the week too, so I decided to give this recipe another try tonight, with a few modifications.

Below is the recipe as I made it. The changes I made from the recipe link above are that I used rosemary & oregano diced tomatoes instead of fire-roasted since I did not like how those tasted the first time I made it, and I remember the soup needed more flavor so I thought these might work better than just regular diced tomatoes. I also remember the carrots were still pretty raw by the time the soup was done, so I cooked those first this time before adding the other veggies. I increased the amount of chicken broth since I know I will be eating this for several nights and the orzo will absorb a lot of it. I simmered the soup for about 30 minutes before adding the orzo, hoping that giving all the flavors a chance to combine would give the soup more taste. I used regular orzo instead of whole wheat, and I used 1 cup instead of 1 1/2 cups. I also tend to season my soup pretty well with salt and freshly ground black pepper, which I found it needed.

I didn't want to get my hopes up in case this soup did not come out better than last year, but it tasted much better! This recipe took about an hour to make and I will probably get 5 nights worth of dinner out of it. I made this in my 7 1/4-quart dutch oven with plenty of room to spare, so a 5-quart dutch oven or stockpot would work perfectly. Since I didn't have any fresh bread, I had Mini Saltine Crackers with this, which are delicious with soup (as are Oyster Crackers).

This is a great, quick meatless meal, but you can certainly add Italian sausage or chicken to it. You can also add other veggies and use your favorite kind of pasta, and make any other modifications you wish to make it more to your liking. If you prefer more broth in your soup, you should add more stock. I will likely have to add a bit more when reheating this during the week. You could also cook your pasta separately and add it into the soup by the bowl, which is what my mom always does when she makes minestrone. I am glad I didn't give up on this recipe, and I will definitely make it again!

Italian Orzo Spinach Soup

Recipe Adapted from Gimme Some Oven Blog

This delicious Italian Orzo Spinach Soup is simple, flavorful, and so comforting.

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced celery

1 small white onion, peeled and diced

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

8 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 (14-ounce) can Hunt’s Rosemary & Oregano Diced Tomatoes, with juice

½ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon dried rosemary

1 cup Orzo pasta

4 cups loosely packed baby spinach

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Heat oil in a 5-quart stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add carrots and sauté for 4 minutes. Add celery, onion and garlic and sauté for 7 minutes or until all vegetables are cooked to your liking. Add chicken stock, diced tomatoes, thyme, oregano, and rosemary and stir to combine. Bring soup to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

After soup has simmered for 30 minutes, add orzo. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente.

Stir in the spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes until it is bright green and wilted. Season the soup with salt and black pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Serves 4-6.

 

Diced carrots

Diced celery

All veggies

Simmer for 30 minutes

Add orzo

Add spinach

Enjoy!

Photos by JoJo

Sausage, Tomato and Spinach Pasta

A few months ago my cousin Marina made a delicious pasta dish for our cousin's bridal shower. I finally made it tonight and wanted to share the recipe. It's so simple and took me all of about 15 minutes to make! This is a great recipe for a summer evening when you want to make a fast meal. I took the ground sage sausage out of my freezer last night, browned it while the pasta water was boiling. While the pasta was cooking, I cut the tomatoes and washed and spun the baby spinach. Once the sausage and pasta were cooked, I put everything in a bowl together and mixed it with olive oil, salt and pepper. Delicious! I am also including pictures of Marina's pasta that was used for the party. This is also a great recipe for a light lunch for a larger group!

Sausage, Tomato & Spinach  Pasta

1 pound ground sausage, cooked

1 pound pasta, cooked
1 cup red grape tomatoes, cut in half
½ bag baby spinach
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Romano cheese (optional)

Cook the ground sausage in a frying pan or in the oven.

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.

Wash the spinach and cherry tomatoes. Cut tomatoes in half.

Once the sausage and pasta are both cooked, combine pasta, sausage, tomatoes and spinach and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Top the bowl with Romano cheese.

Photos by JoJo

 Here are some photos of Marina's pasta made for a summer bridal shower luncheon:

Photos by JoJo

Spinach Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Every time I have stuffed shells I remember they are so easy to make and perfect to freeze for a quick meal another day. Yesterday my cousin made stuffed shells for a bridal shower and it reminded me to post this recipe. The stuffed shells recipe is my Aunt Barbara's (although I made a few changes to the ingredient amounts in her original recipe) and the bolognese sauce recipe is my grandma's. Because these can be prepared ahead of time and frozen, my family has made them for numerous events over the years. Serve them with meatballs and sausage, salad and bread and you have a delicious Italian meal!

I like to parboil the shells, not completely boil them. This makes them easier to fill and less likely to break. I have also used this recipe to make manicotti using store-bought shells. Just be careful when putting the filling in so you do not rip the manicotti shells!

Spinach Ricotta Stuffed Shells

12-ounce box jumbo shells, parboiled

2 10-ounce boxes frozen chopped spinach, lightly cooked and drained

32 ounces ricotta cheese

16 ounces shredded mozzarella

2 lightly beaten eggs

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Spaghetti Meat Sauce or Bolognese Sauce (recipe below) or your favorite marinara sauce

(or blend a 28-ounce can of Hunts Whole or Italian Plum tomatoes in the blender.  Add a little pepper and pour over stuffed shells.  No need to cook the blended tomatoes before baking.)

Cook shells (when cooking shells, add a small amount of oil to the water to prevent sticking).  After the shells are cooked, drain and run under cold water, drain again.

Lightly cook the frozen chopped spinach and drain completely.

To spinach, add ricotta, mozzarella, eggs, salt and pepper. Mix well. Stuff each shell with one tablespoon of ricotta mixture.

Arrange shells in an oven-proof casserole.  Spoon sauce over and around the shells.  Cover with foil and bake at 350° for about 30 minutes or until steaming – do not let it dry out.

Freezing Stuffed Shells:

Shells can be frozen in a casserole (before the baking process).  Allow casserole to defrost in refrigerator.  Bake as directed above. 

     --or--

Arrange stuffed shells on a plastic-wrap covered cookie sheet. Quick freeze.  When shells are frozen, remove shells from cookie sheet and arrange in layers in a freezer container or place in Zip-lock plastic bag.  Remove the stuffed shells as you need them.  Arrange in casserole, cover with sauce and bake.  Do not defrost the shells before baking.  Bake frozen shells 15-20 minutes longer than the fresh baked stuffed shells.

Bolognese Sauce

 

It is a good idea to make a double recipe of the sauce so that there is some left over to serve over the stuffed shells.

2 Tablespoons bacon drippings or olive oil

1 pound ground beef (chuck, sirloin, round)*

            * Variation: use part ground pork or add a piece of pork (browned)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 small whole onion, lightly browned

28-ounce Hunts Italian or Whole Tomatoes – blend in blender until smooth

6-ounce can Hunts Tomato paste

1 6-ounce can of water

Fresh parsley

Brown whole onion and ground meat in saucepan.  Add tomatoes that have been blended until smooth.  Add salt and pepper and cook for about 15 minutes.  Add tomato paste and water and continue cooking slowly for about 1½ hours.