Sausage and Lentil Soup

OK, so I *love* Carrabba's sausage and lentil soup. We sometimes eat there based on if this is the soup of the day or not. I know, it's bad... but I *love* that darn soup!! I recently discovered that there are copy-cat recipes out on some food blogs or recipe websites. I found this recipe on Food.com. I changed it a bit, made it mine if you will. It turned out really really good! The only thing is that I think it's getting hotter/spicier as the days go by... We'll find out when we eat the the last of the leftovers in a few days. Did I mention how good this turned out? :-)

Sausage and Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 2 lb mild Italian sausage
• 1 lg sweet onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped (yes, ONE stalk, not piece!!)
• 3 lg carrots, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 small zucchini, chopped
• 2-32 oz box containers chicken stock (or homemade if you have it)
• 28 oz can organic diced tomatoes, do NOT drain
• 2 cups dry lentils
• 2-3 garlic cloves or 2 heaping teaspoons fresh garlic in olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/4 c Wondra, optional (this is a very fine flour which doesn't add a heavy flour taste to your finished soup)
• parmesan cheese or fresh grated parmesan reggiano

Directions

1. Soak lentils in 4 cups of water overnight. If you don't get to do this or forget, don't worry about it. Do not drain the water off the lentils as this will be added to the pot.
2. Brown sausage and drain off fat, if necessary. Mine was super lean so I didn't have any fat at all.
3. Add onions, garlic, salt & pepper; saute over med heat until onions are transparent, about 5 minutes.
4. Add remaining ingredients, EXCEPT for zucchini, and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
6. Add zucchini; bring to a boil for about 30 minutes to reduce liquid and thicken up soup. Sprinkle in Wondra and continue to boil, further thickening up the soup. Don't cook out all the liquid or you'll have stew instead of soup. You can also remove 1-2 cups of soup and puree it. When you add it back to the soup it will also help to thicken the consistency.
7. Serve with fresh or grated parmesan and bread. We had rosemary olive oil bread by LaBrea. YUM!

We've been having the leftovers over spaghetti so we're not eating the same thing every night. It's pretty good as the soup acts like a sauce. Did I mention it's getting hotter and spicier every time we eat it? I might try to figure out how to make a spaghetti pie with the leftovers... we'll see. I'll let you know. Sorry the pic is a bit blurry... I took it with my phone.



Enjoy!