My friend Kandice over at Barque and Bite shared with me her recipe for a homemade knockoff version of Zuppa Toscana a few years back. This soup is rich with flavor and warmth. I loved it from the first time I made it. In fact it wasn’t until after I made it a couple times that I finally went to Olive Garden so I could try out the “original” version. I was highly disappointed. I thought the homemade version was so much better.
Despite a few recent posts about cupcakes, I am trying to eat and cook healthier, so I wanted to see if I couldn’t make a healthier version of this soup without losing most of the rich flavor and I think I was successful.
Heathier Zuppa Toscana
1 pkg Italian Turkey Sausage (regular if you aren’t going for healthy)
2 stalks of celery, chopped
8 small carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 Pint Heavy Cream (or the Substitute I used here)
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2-3 potatoes
1 can Chicken Broth
5 cups of water
Start by browning the sausage in a pan. Once it is all the way brown set it to the side on some paper towels and soak up the grease. Pour a little Olive Oil into a heated pot and chop the celery, carrots, onion and garlic, then add to the pot. Cook until the onion and celery are see through.
Add chicken stock and water and potatoes. You’ll want to chop them to be bite size. I like to bring it to a boil for a about 10 minutes to make sure the potatoes get soft enough. Then turn it back down to about a 3-4 and add the pint of heavy cream.
The substitue for Heavy Cream was actually pretty easy. One pint is two cups. So I measured 2 cups then added 4 tbsps cornstarch and 2 tbsps of flour, whisking it all together. Once it thickened I added to the pot and let it cook for about 30 minutes.
Then add the sausage and kale and cook it until the sausage is warm. Add salt and pepper to taste.
This healthy version actually turned out great. It reheated well, actually a lot better then the heavy cream version does. Though when reheated it resembled a chowder consistency.
If you try the healthier Zuppa Toscana, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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