Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

The making of this soup came about through a discussion with two co-workers. They asked if I was familiar with a certain soup from the Olive Garden, neither of them could remember the name of the soup so we called a third co-worker and he remembered the name, Zuppa Toscana. I told them about copycat websites that publish popular restaurant recipes and if they found it I'd give it a shot. A few minutes later I was handed a copy of the recipe. This was all done during lunch time so we were our usual productive selves at work.


I'm always a bit nervous with a new recipe, not knowing how it's going to taste. This time I put myself in a bit of a corner since I put up my little "Soup At Work" sign in the department eating area the afternoon before Soup Day promising the Zuppa Toscana the next day. So if I finished the soup and I didn't like it I'd be explaining why there was no soup the next day.

Luckily I needn't have worried about this recipe. It was excellent and a big hit. It is a fairly simple make with mostly ordinary ingredients but the combination of the flavors is extraordinary.

The recipe I was given is from Food.com. I modified the heck out of that recipe so you won't find this particular version on the site if you happen to look. The are more than two dozen versions of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana on Food.com alone so there are lots of options. I used hot Italian Sausage and found that no additional hot spices were needed. Most of the recipes call for red pepper flakes but I'm glad I was tasting frequently during the making of this soup (always using a clean spoon) because the hot sausage provides just the right amount of heat. If you find the soup needs thinning add more broth instead of water.

Prep Time is about 90 minutes. This recipe makes a large 7 quart portion of the soup.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb of hot Italian Sausage, about 4 sausages
3 large unpeeled russet baking potatoes, sliced in lengthwise strips not quite 1/2 inch square and then cut in half crosswise
1 large red onion, chopped
3 slices of thick bacon, cut in 1/2 inch pieces crosswise
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 heaping cups of kale, about 2 medium bunches, bottom portions of the thick ribs removed and sliced in 1/2 inch wide strips
32 ounces of chicken broth
2.5 cups of water
1.5 cups of half & half

METHOD

1. Cut the casing off of the sausage by running a knife down one side lengthwise and peeling off.
2. Brown the sausage in your soup pot while breaking the sausage up with a spoon.
3. While the sausage is browning, saute the onions and bacon in a separate pan until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
4. Add the broth, water, onions, bacon, garlic, and potatoes to the soup pot containing the browned sausage.
5. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are just fork tender, start checking at about 20 minutes. You don't want to overcook the potatoes because they'll start to break down and the soup will take on a puree quality, not what you want for this soup.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.
7. Add the kale and half & half.
8. Keep on medium heat and heat through.
9. Serve.