Italian Sausage & Vegetable Soup

By dette

A great make-ahead soup recipe...even more flavorful when you reheat it.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. ground Italian pork sausage
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 14-0z cans chicken broth
• 1/2 c. white wine or chicken broth
• 28-oz can crushed tomaties in tomato puree
• 2 zucchinik quartered lengthwise and sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 t. dried oregano
• 1/2 c. orzo pasta, uncooked
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. pepper
• Optional: 2/3c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Step 1

Brown sausage in a Dutch oven over medium ehat. Drain, leaving a small amount of drippings in pan. Add onion and garlic; cook must until tender. Add broth, wine or broth, vegetables and seasoning; bring to a boil. Add uncooked pasta; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until vegetables and pasta are tneder. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle servings with Parmesan Cheese if desired.



Instead of using a big hollowed-out pumpkin as a soup tureen, turn smaller sugar pumkins into indivcidual soup bowls. Hollow out serveral, fill each with soup and replace the pumpkin "lid" to keep soup warm. Set several on a platter surrounded with real pumkin leaves and curly vines.