A Take on “Unlimited” Soup
For years, I detested soup. I thought soup was boring and bland. I didn’t truly like soup until I worked at Olive Garden for more than a year.
To many, Olive Garden is a soup sanctuary. The four unlimited soups include, Pasta e Fagioli, Minestrone, Chicken & Gnocchi, and finally Zuppa Toscana.
Zuppa Toscana is obviously the superior soup at Olive Garden. Basically, Zuppa Toscana translates to Tuscan Soup.
Zuppa Toscana is velvety yet rustic. The soup is made with spicy Italian sausage, russet potatoes, and crunchy kale in a creamy broth.
For some reason, I go back and forth between eating vegan and eating regularly. During one of my vegan stints, I wasn’t eating soup from Olive Garden. One day, I was really craving a warm bowl of the classic soup. Consequently, I began looking for vegan renditions.
After looking at countless recipes, I found one that suited me and my dietary restrictions. I followed this recipe from Yummy Mummy Kitchen’s website.
The recipe calls for the basics like olive oil, garlic, onions, Italian seasoning, and of course, salt and pepper. To make the recipe vegan, I used coconut cream and hot Italian sausage from Beyond Meat.
First, I gathered all my ingredients and chopped the kale and potatoes. Then, I heated minced garlic, onions, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes over medium heat with garlic olive oil from Trader Joe’s.
After that simmered, I added the potatoes and the vegetable broth. While the potatoes boiled to perfection, I sautéed the hot Italian sausage.
As soon as the potatoes are tender, I added in the plate full of kale and mixed in the coconut cream. After the soup heated a bit more, I added the mashed-up sausage and heated thoroughly.
The whole process takes about 40 minutes and I have mason jars filled with soup for the week.
Check out how I made the soup here!
Once the soup is ready, I filled my bowl and seasoned to my liking with salt, pepper, and lime. I love how the skin falls off the potatoes and the acidity of the lime counteracts the creaminess of the broth.
With a little research and creativity, I turned my favorite soup from Olive Garden into something that I can enjoy at home with the $5.99 price tag from one bowl.
Jessica Schram
