Zuppa Toscana
Author: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • Olive oil if needed (plant-based sausage and lean poultry sausage may not have enough fat to get brown in the pot)
  • 1 pound Italian sausage (not precooked), sliced or removed from the casing and left in large pieces or plant-based sausage (I like Field Roast)
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 1 fennel bulb, halved and chopped
  • 2 Tablespoons minced garlic, about 4 large cloves
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • pinch crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, chopped
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • Sea salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped, about 4 cups
  • 1 13.5-ounce can full fat coconut milk*
Instructions
  1. In a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed medium pot over medium heat, add Italian sausage. If you are using bulk sausage without the casing you can use a potato masher to break up the sausage into pieces. Cook until browned and cooked through. Remove sausage pieces with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl. Set aside while you continue with the rest of the recipe.
  2. Add oil to the pot if needed. Stir in the onions and fennel; cook until onions are tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, and crushed red pepper and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
  3. Add the potatoes, chicken stock, salt and pepper. Start with 1½ teaspoons of salt if using unsalted stock. Bring to a boil over high heat, lower to a simmer and cover until potatoes are fork tender, about 15-20 minutes.
  4. Uncover, increase the heat to medium and stir in the coconut milk (including any cream that has settled to the top) and the cooked sausage. Stir until milk has dissolved. Add the kale into the soup just before serving and cook until softened, 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
*To make this soup creamy without coconut milk, use more stock and remove 1 cup of the soup with some potato after step 3 and blend in a blender until creamy. Stir back into the pot and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

If you don’t want to use potatoes, swap any color sweet potatoes or carrots, as a suggestion.
Recipe by Pamela Salzman at https://pamelasalzman.com/zuppa-toscana-recipe/