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Italian Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup


This is one of our favorite restaurant soups.
Once I developed a recipe we loved...my beloved said. ..."well there is another thing that we don't need to go out to eat." Almost anything you can find in a restaurant can be duplicated and often it ends up being tastier than the original. 
If you like spicy food...give this one a try.
If you want to tone down the heat of the soup..simply use mild Italian Sausage.
Another option is to add the crisp fried bacon to the crumbled fried sausage.
Either way...we like it.

Makes 4-6 servings.
  • 1 lb / 450 grams bulk Hot Italian Sausage (remove casings if bulk is not available)
  • 1 large onion
  • 3 large cloves garlic
  • 1 pound  small yellow potatoes  (they will keep their shape in the soup)
  • 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 bunch kale to make 5 cups
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • Italian cheese for topping (optional)
  • 4 slices crumbled crisp fried bacon (optional)
  1.  Add the Hot Italian Sausage to a large pot over medium heat and scramble fry until browned. Use a stiff egg lifter to chop it apart to form small crumbles.
  2. Remove from heat and put the sausage and bacon into a colander over a bowl. Allow to drain well and then discard the fat.
  3. Chop the onion and mince the garlic and fry in the same pot which has a bit of drippings from the  sausage over medium heat until the onion is translucent.
  4. Add the sausage  back to the pot.
  5. Scrub the potatoes and slice them with the skin on. Add the potatoes and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
  6. Slice the pepper into small pieces and break the kale into bite sized pieces. Add to the soup and simmer 10 minutes.
  7. Add the evaporated milk and heat through.
  8. Garnish with Italian Cheese, crumbled crisp bacon and serve with crusty bread.

Guess what?  One of our own is celebrating a milestone birthday today!  Happy Birthday Judy.
Why don't you go over to Judy's Front Porch blog and wish her a wonderful day.    I've already been there and she doesn't appear to be home...so better still write a note and she'll find it when she returns!

19 comments:

  1. I like your addition of the red bell pepper. Adds good color and flavor to the soup. That is one of my favorite soups! Yum!!!!!

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  2. This is definitely my favorite soup. My daughter and I have been making it for a few years now - she does the hot sausage, I the milder. Both of us prefer half & half cream to the evaporated milk though - but both work well! I always make a huge pot and then even freeze portions to take to work for my lunch. Great recipe and thanks for posting it! Enjoy!

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    1. The first time I made this lovely soup I used mild Italian sausage and I missed the little kick from "that" restaurant, so braved using the hot , just loved it.......just like theirs. And with nice homemade bread........it wasn't too hot at all.

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  3. Oh my, this sounds good on a cold day. I'd use the mild sausage option but I do love this soup and always choose it at that well known Italian place. (smile)

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  4. This sounds delicious - I love heavy textured soups. Could the Italian sausage be substituted for Chorizo? I'm not sure if I can get Hot Italian here.

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  5. Your soup looks so tasty. I read this year that kale is on the top 10 healthy foods for 2012. Thanks for working to get this recipe perfect:) I will be picking up kale and making soup very soon.

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  6. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, it looks fantastic!!

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  7. So glad to see someone else uses can milk in that soup.. I not only do not like the taste of real cream I don't want the added fat.

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  8. I made this for dinner last night. Our local market did not have any Kale so I substituted Collard Greens. It worked out well. Great flavor and fast cooking dinner.

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  9. One of my favorites too! I'll be back after I get that sausage. Thanks, Lovella.

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  10. This sounds so good! I love the Portuguese soup that is halfway similar, so I look forward to trying this.

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  11. Great soup! I followed your recipe exactly and my wife raved.

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  12. Made this today and used leeks instead of the red pepper along with some spinach! DELICIOUS!

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  13. I've been seeing kale at the Farmer's Market and wondering what to do with it ... I made kale chips but I was the only person in the house who liked them. So this looks like a great way to get my family to eat this super-green! I just discovered your blog today and am so excited to try some of your recipes.

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  14. We were out in your 'neck of the woods' last evening and dined at Paliotti's. Our first time there and we'll definitely meet our friends there again. Perchance that's the place that inspired this recipe? I had the best ever Italian Wedding Soup. This looks just as yummy so I'll have to make it this week.

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  15. Just made this soup last night for supper. I used the spicy Italian sausage...delish!

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  16. I had just been to the Olive Garden and had this soup there and raved on how good it was. Then here comes this post. I made it last night and was not disappointed. A new recipe for meals at my house. Great job!

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  17. I've been making a version of this for years. But, I've 'menno-ed' it up and switched up the italian sausage for farmer sausage. It's delicious! I made this for a group of french canadians who had never tasted farmer sausage - they were hooked!

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  18. Sounds delicious. A great way to get kale into our diet. It's good to know that your readers used other kinds of sausage and the soup turned out great.

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