That One Soup From that Chain Restaurant with the Endless Salad & Breadsticks

 As the title states, this is my version of that one soup from that one chain restaurant with the endless salad and mediocre breadsticks. Every time I say that people recoil in disbelief but I just don’t get the hype over the bread.  Oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️

About the soup, I’ve actually never even had it from the restaurant. I’ve probably only even eaten there 4 times in my 32 years of life and and it’s been at least since I was a teenager. Even though I’ve never had it, I’ve sure heard a lot about their Tuscan soup, so I decided to make it at home. 

I looked up copycat recipes to get an idea but bumped up the flavor. Based on the ingrendients listed I felt like it needed a little boost. Now, I can’t say how mine compares to the actual restaurant version, but I can say that everyone loves it. Whenever I make it people ask for the recipe and The Boy LOVES. Yesterday, there was a cold snap here in Phoenix and it was only 93 degrees, so I broke out my Dutch oven to make it. 

Hope you enjoy it! 

My Version of Zuppa Toscano

1 pound bacon, medium diced 

1 pound Italian sausage

1 Onion, medium diced 

4 Cloves garlic, minced 

2 tsp. Dried basil

2 tsp. Italian seasoning 

2 1/2 pounds peeled and medium diced potatoes

2-48oz boxes chicken broth (12 cups)

1 tsp. Red pepper flake (optional. Or use spicy Italian sausage)

1 cup heavy creamy 

5 tb. Cornstarch mixed with 5 tb water (optional)

3 handfuls of torn or roughly chopped kale, thick stems removed (you can also use frozen chopped kale or spinach)

Pepper to taste 

2 tsp. Kosher salt**

•In your soup pot, crisp the diced bacon. Remove the crisped bacon and let drain on paper towels, reserving for later.

•Crumble and brown the Italian sausage in the bacon fat. 

•After the sausage is cooked, add the diced onion and cook until soft and translucent. 

•At this point, drain any excess fat. 

•Stir in your minced garlic, basil, and Italian seasoning and stir cooking for about a minute letting it become fragrant but not letting the garlic brown. 

•Pour in your broth and stir in the red pepper flakes and potatoes. 

•Bring to a boil and let simmer until potatoes are soft, then pour in the cream. 

•Mix your 5 tb of cornstarch with equal parts water to create a slurry. Pour this into the boiling soup. This is optional, but I like this additional step. It won’t thicken it enough to be like a chowder, it will still be more of a brothy soup. However, it adds just just enough body to help it coat the potatoes and other ingredients and acts as an emulsifier with any remaining fat. It also Keeps the broth and cream emulsified together as well .

•Season with pepper to taste and kosher salt

**I ended up using 2 tsp Kosher salt but it all depends on how salty your bacon and broth are.  Start with less and season to taste. 

•Remove from the heat and stir in the reserved bacon and the kale. The residual heat will wilt the kale but keep the vibrant green color.