Lasagna Soup

If you know me, you know I love lasagna. You also know I love to make lasagna. From scratch.

Yeah... not so doable during the week. I found this one in Food Network Magazine... it may not be my lasagna, but its a good stand in for a cold winter night.

Sorry about the pictures... my camera died and I was trying to get as much juice out of battery life as possible.

Ingredients:

8 ounces lasagna noodles, broken into piece (10 noodles)
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 pound hot or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
3 gloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp. tomato paste
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil, plus thinly sliced leaves for topping
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
Ricotta cheese, for topping

• Cook your noodles as directed... when you drain them leave them in the colander and toss with the olive oil to keep moist.
• Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a Dutch oven or heavy soup pan over medium high heat. I use my chowder pot for this one.
• Add the onion and cook until they're softened. Go with your preference on this one... I like my onions crunchy.
• Add the sausage, garlic and oregano. Break up the sausage as it browns.
• Add the tomato paste, stir and cook until it gets to be a really dark red color.
• Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and 1 cup water. Cover your pot and let it simmer.

• Once its simmered, uncover the pot and cook until it slightly reduced (about 10 minutes).
• Stir in your noodles, basil, parmesan and heavy cream.

Cook to your liking and serve!

 

*Note - make sure to break up your noodles into bite sized pieces before you cook them. I wasn't thinking straight (too much red wine... can't make lasagna without it) and didn't make them small enough. Ended up with fist sized bites and a lot of slurping action.