Dave's Italian Sausage And Kale Soup

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 1 bunch kale
• 4 hot italian sausages
• 1 large onion, diced
• 5 garlic cloves, diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped and seeded
• 28 ounces diced tomatoes
• 48 ounces chicken broth
• 28 ounces water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon basil
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon season-all salt
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Recipe

• 1 this soup uses kale, but you can use any of the major greens you like. i have alternated in kale, escarole, and it has been reviewed with others using spinach. as the first review of this recipe indicates, using multiple pots can be a pain. however, the only reason to use two pots is if you are actually using kale. other greens that are softer don't require blanching and as a result you can get away with using just one pot.
• 2 using two pans, the soup pot and a regular 12 inch sauté pan:.
• 3 step 1.
• 4 in the soup pot:.
• 5 rinse the kale well, chopping off heavy stems.
• 6 while the kale is wet just add to soup pot and add about a quarter cup of water. blanch the kale leaves in pot, reserve liquid and leave in soup pot for now.
• 7 step 2.
• 8 in the sauté pan.
• 9 skin the sausage, split lengthwise while raw with knife, and cut into bite sized pieces, so they look like small meatballs.
• 10 lightly brown the sausage (do not cook through) drain and set as aside.
• 11 make sure when cooking that you don’t burn the sausage as you will be cooking with the sausage grease next.
• 12 pour out any grease that will easily drip out, but leave a fine coat of the sausage grease on the pan for your next step and set pan aside for now.
• 13 if you burn chunks of sausage to the pan, just use a paper towel to wipe out any black crust but leave some of the fat there.
• 14 step 3.
• 15 once the sausage is set aside take the large pieces of kale and chop into bite sized pieces. return to the soup pot, keeping any liquid in the pot.
• 16 add broth and tomatoes to the pot with the kale and begin to heat on high.
• 17 step 4.
• 18 sauté onion, garlic and jalapeño pepper into the slightly greasy pan with the 2 table spoons of butter.
• 19 when onions are slightly translucent or about 3 minutes, add spices to this mixture.
• 20 step 5.
• 21 add the sauté pan contents to the soup pot and add the sausage to the soup pot. bring the entire mixture to a boil. after boiling for about 2 minutes, reduce heat to a medium low heat and simmer for about 1.5 hours.
• 22 optional:.
• 23 option 1:.
• 24 if you like, add 1 cup of rice to this and at 8 ounces of water while cooking. suggest you add the rice to the sauté pan and sauté with the onion mix for about 3 minutes before putting into the main soup pot.
• 25 option 2:.
• 26 after soup has simmered for about half an hour alone, add a package of noodles of your choice and the 8 ounces of water.
• 27 option 3:.
• 28 add 3 medium potatoes chopped into small pieces while raw, sauté with onions until the potato cubes are soft to the touch. add to soup pot.
• 29 add 3 medium potatoes chopped into small pieces while raw, sauté with onions until the potato cubes are soft to the touch. add to soup pot.