Italian Sausage Minestrone

There is no such thing as a “correct” minestrone.  It’s all about what’s fresh, what you’ve got in the fridge.  As the weather has turned cold and wet again (apparently the groundhog was actually right), soup was just what was called for.  I had a pack of Artisan Fresh Italian Chicken Sausages With Provolone hanging out in the fridge that I needed to do something with, so a bit of this and a little of that later, we had soup, served up with fresh foccacia bread, which was marvelous.  Now these particular sausages are pre-cooked, so if you happen to be dealing with normal Italian sausage links, you’ll want to remove the casings and brown the meat first.  Just FYI.  Makes 4 big servings at 511 calories and 13.25 grams of fat.

Ingredients:

  • 5 links Italian chicken sausage
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 15 oz chickpeas (1 can, drained and rinsed)
  • 1 can Hunt’s diced tomatoes with rosemary and oregano
  • 1/2 cup roasted red peppers
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 tbs parsley
  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
  • 2 cups cooked brown rice
  • 1 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

1. Dice your sausage, onion, carrots, peppers, and celery and add to your crock pot.

2. Add the can of tomatoes.  You can certainly use plain diced tomatoes and add some oregano and rosemary yourself (I’d say 1/2 tsp of each, dried).  I just happened to have these in the pantry.

3. Drain and rinse your chickpeas and add those.

4. Add the garlic, parsley, and black pepper.

5. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-10.

6. At the end, add the rice and salt, stirring well and allowing to warm through, about another 20 minutes (or as long as it takes to bake the foccacia.

 

 

Italian Sausage Minestrone
 
There is no such thing as a "correct" minestrone.  It's all about what's fresh, what you've got in the fridge.  As the weather has turned cold and wet again (apparently the groundhog was actually right), soup was just what was called for.  I had a pack of Artisan Fresh Italian Chicken Sausages With Provolone hanging out in the fridge that I needed to do something with, so a bit of this and a little of that later, we had soup, served up with fresh foccacia bread, which was marvelous.  Now these particular sausages are pre-cooked, so if you happen to be dealing with normal Italian sausage links, you'll want to remove the casings and brown the meat first.  Just FYI.  Makes 4 big servings at 511 calories and 13.25 grams of fat.
Author:
Recipe type: Soup/Stews/Chowders
Cuisine: Gluten and Dairy Free
Ingredients
  • 5 links Italian chicken sausage
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 15 oz chickpeas (1 can, drained and rinsed)
  • 1 can Hunt's diced tomatoes with rosemary and oregano
  • ½ cup roasted red peppers
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1 tbs parsley
  • ½ tsp fresh ground pepper
  • 2 cups cooked brown rice
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
  1. Dice your sausage, onion, carrots, peppers, and celery and add to your crock pot.
  2. Add the can of tomatoes.  You can certainly use plain diced tomatoes and add some oregano and rosemary yourself (I'd say ½ tsp of each, dried).  I just happened to have these in the pantry.
  3. Drain and rinse your chickpeas and add those.
  4. Add the garlic, parsley, and black pepper.
  5. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-10.
  6. At the end, add the rice and salt, stirring well and allowing to warm through, about another 20 minutes (or as long as it takes to bake the foccacia.

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