Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients

• 1 pound bulk mild Italian sausage
• 1 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 5 (13.75 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 6 potato, thinly sliced
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 bunch fresh spinach, tough stems removed

Directions

1. Cook the Italian sausage and red pepper flakes in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crumbly, browned, and no longer pink, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Cook the bacon in the same Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain, leaving a few tablespoons of drippings with the bacon in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Stir in the onions and garlic; cook until onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Pour the chicken broth into the Dutch oven with the bacon and onion mixture; bring to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes, and boil until fork tender, about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the heavy cream and the cooked sausage; heat through. Mix the spinach into the soup just before serving.

Was going to add parsley to it instead of Kale, but it was saved by Gracie — she was so adamant not to add parlsey, she ran to the store and bought kale just for this soup. (G: HE WANTED TO SUBSTITUTE PARSLEY FOR KALE. IT’S LIKE MAKING A STRAIGHT UP BASIL SALAD BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE LETTUCE- I still love you Isakey, and thanks for letting me run to the store, but no.)

It was good soup, we finished the whole pot in one night. Tried parley in a little bit of it — yes, it is too strong. Parsley is more of an herb than a base. Kale is more of a strong base. (G: Tasty too, no? It’s a good “soup lettuce” thing. Like how spinach can be used for soup and salad but you never really see lettuce in soups.)

Grace and I discovered bacon pieces and ends at the store — messed up chunks of bacon, you get twice as much for the same price as breakfast bacon! It’s hard to crisp because of the uneven thickness, but it’s still good stock/flavor bacon if you don’t need beautiful bacon. (Gracie: I don’t like the bacon- I do wish it was good because I hate wasting food, especially if it’s cheap, market flavor, but not quite market prettiness food (< like the stock bones stores are starting to sell <3, but this bacon tastes heavily of undercured,  sickeningly artificially maple flavored, thick but not crispy sub-parness. I wish Oscar Meyer would sell bacon ends and pieces. *sigh*)

-Isaac

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