With the cool damp weather settling in, a little bone-warming soup was in order this weekend. This will probably be the first in a string of warm comfort as I play around in the kitchen. This weekend, I managed not one but two.
The inspiration for the first, a hearty tomato soup, came from two places on Saturday.
I checked in on the Orangette , a food blog by Seattleite Molly Wizenburg that’s usually as fun to read as the recipes are to try. She too caught the soup bug and offered an adaptation of a simple, chunky tomato soup .
I had already determined to try it when I went to eat at Amy’s on the Bay in Port Orchard, and the soup du jour just happened to be a hearty, peppery tomato soup, with garbanzo beans and Italian sausage.
After the light bulbs dimmed out, I went home and tried it, and below is the adaptation of the Orangette adaptation of a comfort soup worthy of a rainy day. For personal taste, I doubled the amount of garlic (I could almost eat the stuff raw), I used Italian parsley stems instead of cilantro because I have some weird aversion to cilantro, and used a whole roasted jalapeño to cut down on some of the spice, but save on the flavor. I also added more pepper to approximate
I also added some garbanzo beans and, while I thought about adding regular pork ground Italian sausage, but I’ve been eating such rich food lately that I’m starting to feel like I’m well on my way to being a Thanksgiving Day parade float. So I went with a turkey sausage instead. I also threw in a little kale for some added texture and vitamins.
Tomato Soup with Sausage and Garbanzo beans
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium red onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp. kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 Tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 bunch Italian parsley stems, cut into ½-inch lengths
1 roasted jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup garbanzo beans
2 cups water
splash of white wine – optional
2 turkey sausages (I used Jenny-O), casings removed
1 1/2 cups coarsley chopped kale
Sour cream, for serving
In a large saucepan, saute onions and garlic over medium-low heat until onions are transluscent. Stir in salt, pepper, parsley and jalapeno and saute about 1 minute. Strain tomatoes and add juice to the saucepan. Seed tomatoes, chop into large pieces and stir into pan. Add two cups of water and a splash of wine, stir and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add in garbanzo beans and simmer for about 10-15 minutes more.
In a nonstick skillet, brown and break up sausage. Add in kale and cook until bright green and slightly wilted. Add to soup and stir.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a hunk of crusty bread.
In retrospect, I should have either a) turned up the heat on the sausage and browned it longer or b) just used ground pork Italian sausage. The way I made it, the sausage came out a touch rubbery and didn’t break up into the finer bits I had eaten in the Amy’s soup. I also highly recommend adding the sour cream.
Yummy, It is amazing, and I hope it taste the way it looks, hah.
My style is more onion and black pepper, but I did not add too much jalapeño pepper as it is so hot for me. Personally, I would love to add white wine in this soup, as it is really unique for the flavor.
I am sure that I will make this soup often later. Thank you so much for sharing.