Zuppa Toscana

*Post by Angela.

Mark often gives me grief for it, but I actually have rather fond feelings for Olive Garden. Growing up, it was quite the treat when we would drive the two hours to Eugene, Oregon to hit up the big mall and the Costco. One thing in particular that I would order without fail is the Zuppa Toscana, and I find myself still craving the hearty, chowder-like soup every now and again. Luckily, like most of the dishes at Olive Garden, it's something that I can easily recreate at home. I adapted this allrecipes copycat version and it does the trick perfectly.

List of ingredients for the soup:

• 1 1/2 lb hot Italian sausage (about 8 links)
• 1 1/2 tbsp crushed red pepper
• 8 slices of bacon, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 7 cups chicken stock
• 6 small Russet potatoes, scrubbed and thinly sliced
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 6 oz baby spinach

First I squeezed the sausage out of its casing, crumbled it into the pot, added about 1/2 tbsp of the crushed red pepper, and cooked over medium high heat until fully browned, about 10 minutes.

I removed the cooked sausage from the pot with a slotted spoon, set it aside, poured off the fat and added the bacon pieces over medium low heat. I cooked it about 10 minutes, until most of the fat had rendered out and the bacon was a little crispy. Now, did I double the bacon? Yes, yes, I did. Judge away.

I spooned off all but a couple of tbsp of the bacon fat, raised the heat to medium, then added the onions, garlic, and the rest of the crushed red pepper flakes and cooked until the onions were translucent, about 5-7 minutes.

Next, I added the chicken broth, brought it to a boil, then added the potato slices. I brought the soup to a boil again and cooked for about 20 minutes, breaking up potato slices a little as they became tender. The starch from the potato thickened the soup as it cooked.

Finally, I added the cream and sausage, heated through for a couple of minutes, then removed the pot from heat and stirred in the spinach. You can use kale, too, I would just add it in before the cream and sausage and cook it about 10 minutes, until tender.

This copycat recipe turned out very good, better than restaurant, if I may say so myself (which may have to do with my addition of extra sausage and bacon). Alas, the only think missing was a server bringing me never-ending baskets of warm breadsticks!

Comments

[Brad]

I'm glad you got the bacon in there!

[Evan]

not enough bacon ;-)

[Lisa]

I freaking LOVE Olive Garden! I pay no mind to the haters. Now if you can recreate the Tour of Italy, you'll be my hero.

[Angela]

Brad and Evan-
You joke, but I used the entire package of thick-cut bacon - I feel weird about having half-used packages of bacon lying around, so I threw it all in there. AMAZING. You just have to be sure to drain off most of the fat after it has rendered out.

Lisa-
THANK YOU! Olive Garden definitely has a time and a place. The Tour of Italy, huh? That might take a while, but it would be worth it (lasagna, chicken parmigiana AND fettucini alfredo? Intense).

[Debb]

GD! I friggin LOVE Olive Garden all you can eat soup.

We met way too late in life.

[Angela]

Sigh. Too true. At least I got to have ONE meal with you before leaving. And I'll see you when you come visit LA.