Takes about 40 minutes to make!
Hello everyone, I very much dislike a long intro to a recipe blog where they talk about what they did the minute they thought of cooking up a recipe or where they were. Let's just say I was on the couch and I was hungry. We found this recipe from the depths of the internet (it was actually real easy to find) and decided it looked pretty good! By no means am I a chef, I rarely cook, but this recipe was so easy to do and it turned out amazing! So let's dive right into this tasty soup!
Ingredients
1 lb ground Italian sausage (hot or mild, we like it spicy though)
1 medium white onion, diced (we used a half in ours)
2 medium carrots, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (if you are daring enough then add more)
1 (15oz) can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
8 cups of chicken, beef, or veggie stock*
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 cup orzo pasta
fine sea salt and black pepper (to taste)
2 handfuls of spinach
optional toppings we added was parmesan. You can add parsley as well.
Instructions
Brown the sausage. In a large pot add the sausage and cook on medium -high heat until it's cooked through. Set aside the cooked sausage on a clean plate and leave a bit of grease in the pot. If there is little to no grease present then add a bit of olive oil in the pot.
Cook the veggies. Add onion, carrots, and celery to the pot. Cook for about 7 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and continue to cook for an additional 2 minutes. Be sure to be stirring occasionally to prevent anything sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Simmer the broth. Add the diced tomatoes, stock, Italian seasoning and the cooked sausage in the pot with the vegatables. (If you want to add in basil leaves now is the time)**. Stir to combine. Continue to cook until the broth reaches a simmer, then reduce to medium low heat and maintain the simmer.
Cook the pasta. After achieving the simmer and redusing heat add and stir in the orzo. Cover the pot with a lid and stir occasionally until the orzo is al dente (meaning firm when bitten). Side note: if you added basil leaves before, now is the time to take them out.
Add spinach, salt and pepper. Stir in the spinach and add salt and pepper to taste.
Start ringing the dinner bell! Begin serving the soup and don't be afraid to throw some parmesan on top!
Note
*Having the soup sit longer will let the orzo absorb more broth. If you want it to be soupy agin the just add another cup of stock and maybe some more Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
**We added four whole basil leaves so it can steep in the flavor. If you add freshly chopped basil leaves or dried basil then you can leave them in. We just didn't want to confuse them with the spinach.
I hope you enjoy this easy recipe! This is my first blog but there will be more to come soon including tips for the house/homestead, easy handmade wood crafts, different recipes, and more!