Creamy Italian Sausage and Pasta Soup

By charlotteh371

Ingredients

• 1 package Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage
• 2 c. Barilla macaroni, uncooked
• 5 tbsp. butter
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 cups diced carrots
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cups flour
• 5 c. chicken broth
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes (not drained)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. chicken bouillon
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. red pepper
• 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil, chopped
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used the kind from a jar)
• Galbani mozzarella cheese

Preparation

Step 1

Cook pasta in 2 qts. water and 1 tsp. salt until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, cut sausage into bite sized pieces. (I love using kitchen sheers to make this super easy). Brown the sausage in a large soup pot until cooked through. Drain, then remove to a plate. (Using the soup pot for this cuts down on dishes later.) ?
Melt butter in soup pot; add onions, carrots, and garlic cloves and cook for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are slightly soft, stirring frequently.
Sprinkle in flour and cook, while stirring, for 3 minutes. Gradually add chicken broth, followed by tomatoes, sugar, and all the herbs and seasonings. Reduce heat and gently simmer for about 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
Stir in Parmesan cheese until smooth, then add the milk, cooked sausage and cooked pasta. Stir well and heat through.
Garnish individual servings with freshly grated mozzarella cheese.
RECIPE NOTES:

If you don’t have fresh basil, I’m sure you could substitute dried. The rule of thumb seems to be that when using dried herbs instead of fresh, you use 1/3 the amount. Which would mean you’d need to add about 1 ½ tbsp. of dried basil. That seems like kind of a lot though, so you could always start with less and then add more to taste.