Basic Italian Sausage Soup: A Template

So here's a new idea: a recipe template. I'm going to list ingredients as categories and give acceptable ranges of volume. Then you can freely adapt the template to work with whatever you have on hand, and vary it to make it interesting.

Ingredients:

1 package hot or sweet Italian chicken sausage

1 or 2 onions, white or yellow (red doesn't always work unless you add olives)

Garlic. Use ONE of the following:

- If fresh, 4 or more cloves. 

- If powdered, 2 or more teaspoons. 

- If paste, 1 or more teaspoons.

(OPTIONAL) 1/4 cup cooking wine or sherry

Dried Herbs. Use any or all of the following:

- 1/2 tsp oregano

- 1 tsp parsley

- 1/4 tsp powdered rosemary OR 1/2 tsp whole rosemary

- 1/2 tsp thyme leaves

Tomatoes. Use ONE of the following:

- 1 can diced

- 4 fresh plum tomatoes, chopped and seeded

- 2 tbsp Tomato Paste

(OPTIONAL) Additional Vegetables. Use any or all of the following:

- 1 cup chopped zucchini

- 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

- 1/4 cup black olives, or to taste

- 1 summer squash, chopped

- 3 carrots, sliced

- 2 celery stalks, sliced 

8 ounces greens: spinach, chard, kale, etc. Frozen works well. Avoid delicate greens like arugula.

1 or 2 cans of beans, rinsed and drained. Use any of the following, or a combination:

- kidney beans

- cannellini beans

- navy beans

- lima beans (frozen, not canned, the canned ones are gross)

- butterbeans

(OPTIONAL) Squeeze of lemon, recommended only if you omitted the wine

(OPTIONAL) Cooked pasta

Preparation:

Slice the sausage and sautee in a large soup pot with a little olive oil until browned. Remove to a plate.

Sautee the onion and, if you're using fresh garlic, the garlic too until beginning to soften. Add the wine, if you're using it, and scrape the pot to get any browned bits. 

Add any other chopped vegetables you're using EXCEPT greens. Add the broth, tomatoes, and the herbs.

Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer until the vegetables are almost done. 3 or 4 minutes for delicate vegetables, 8 minutes if you've got carrots. Stir often to check progress.

Add the greens. Return to a boil and cook until greens are tender, about 2 minutes, but maybe a little longer for kale.

Add the beans. If you're using pasta, add that too. If you're using lemon, now's the time--don't go overboard though!

Serve. If you can eat cheese, this is great topped with parmesan, romano, provelone, manchego, or most Greek cheeses.

This soup stores well. Freeze leftovers or keep in the fridge. It gets better the next day.

Salmon Bisque

Yum. Works with frozen salmon just fine, but not canned. This looks super fancy, with a lovely peach-pink color, and tastes creamy and satisfying. It's impressive enough for company, but it's actually not hard to make, and you can prepare it the day before and reheat it.

Ingredients:

1 lb salmon, cooked and flaked
1 onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp paprika
2 Yukon Gold potatoes, or your favorite potatoes, chopped
4 ounces cream cheese or neufchatel
2 tbsp table cream (media crema) or additional cream cheese or heavy cream
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 of a can of diced tomatoes or 2 tbsp tomato paste
Salt

Sautee the onion, celery, and carrot in a little butter until tender. Add broth, garlic, thyme, and paprika. Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, steam the potatoes until just tender, about 12 minutes. Don't overcook.

When the vegetables are done, add the cream cheese, table cream, Worcestershire sauce, and lemon juice. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender, a regular blender, or a food processor until smooth. Pour through a sieve to remove any fibrous bits (optional).

Return to the pot and add the potatoes. Taste and add salt or pepper if you like. Reheat if necessary.

Add the flaked salmon and serve.

About the salmon: 
You can prepare it any way you like, or use leftovers from another meal, as long as it's relatively simple - no crazy sauces that will conflict with the flavor of the soup. The way I made it was I just brushed it with oil, sprinkled salt and garlic powder on it, and baked it at 425 for 11 minutes.