Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup

 

 

I have made this soup for the past five years for the All Faiths Food Bank Bowls of Hope annual fund raiser, representing Girls Inc. of Sarasota County. The first year I made it, everyone loved it! They ask me to make it every year. When I make it at work, the whole building has a beautiful, tasty aroma. It's perfect for the cold wheather. Add an Italian salad and garlic bread and it's a cozy, hearty meal. It's the kind of soup you can make a day or two ahead of time.

I used to use this recipe for my knife skills classes because there is mincing, dicing, chopping, and chiffonade.

Enjoy!

 

Courtesy of: Tricia's Main Event, triciasmainevent@gmail.com

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Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup

 

Ingredients:

1 pound Italian sausage, sweet or hot

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups celery, chopped in large pieces

1 pound zucchini, sliced

2 green peppers, chopped

2 cans (28 oz.) whole tomatoes

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

parmesan cheese

fresh basil, chiffonade

 Preparation:

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven. 

Remove sausage from casings, chop up and brown in the oil.

Take sausage out of pot and set aside.

Drain excess fat leaving about one teaspoon in pot. 

Add onions and sauté a few minutes, then add garlic and cook together just to release the flavors one minute.

Add celery, cook for three minutes.

Add zucchini and peppers, sauté until barely tender. 

Add tomatoes (with liquid), water, salt, oregano and basil. 

Season with freshly ground pepper to taste. 

Add additional water if you like more broth.

Simmer for one to two hours.

Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and garnish with chiffonade of basil. 

 

Serve with salad and garlic bread for a hearty supper.

 Servings: 8

 Notes:

-You can use 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder instead of fresh garlic.

-You can use 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled basil instead of fresh.

 

-Use ground turkey or vegetarian sauage if you do not use pork.