So Many Dishes

Earlier this week, I shared how much I appreciated the soup that Ken, since nothing tastes better than soup when you have a cold. Unfortunately, I also shared something I wish I hadn’t; Ken caught the cold. So it was my turn to make soup for him last night.

We had planned to make fish piccata. It’s one of Ken’s favorite dishes, so he asked if we could move it to next week’s menu and have soup instead. I was quick to agree. We decided to try something new, and considered several options, but the one that most appealed to Ken was ravioli soup. I hadn’t meant to make another recipe from my Ten to Try list, but here we are again!

This was also the first opportunity I’ve had to use the immersion blender that Ken gave me for Christmas. The first challenge of the day was to find said blender. I couldn’t recall where I had stored it. After all, I was really not feeling well around the holidays, and I don’t think I was entirely “with it.” We eventually found it in a drawer that doesn’t get used much, and was, of course, the only storage space in the kitchen (and a few other places) that I hadn’t searched.

The recipe is yet another from Skinnytaste. It includes chicken or turkey Italian sausage and mini cheese ravioli in a light, creamy tomato broth. We decided that this one requires a bit of tweaking the next time we make it. It definitely needed salt. I used reduced sodium chicken broth, as I always do. The original simply says chicken stock, so that may be the reason that there is no additional salt added to the dish. That is one area where I won’t compromise. A typical commercial chicken broth contains 700 to 900 mg of sodium per cup. Even a lot of reduced sodium broths have 500 mg in a one cup serving. I use the low sodium organic broth from Pacific Foods, which only has 50 mg per cup, but still tastes like chicken broth. I’d rather add salt if the soup tastes flat, which is what we did. We also agreed that it needs some seasoning. Ken added some Italian blend seasoning when he ate some of the leftovers for lunch today. I will probably add some when I cook this again, but I also think that adding some fresh basil when I add the spinach would be a very tasty tweak.

I didn’t find the fresh mini ravioli that the recipe calls for, but I did find the frozen version. Bonus, they were BOGO at Publix, so we have a bag in the freezer for another meal. I only used half of the bag (I was probably generous 😄), to approximate the amount in a package of fresh pasta.

Ravioli Soup

• 8 ounces chicken or turkey sweet Italian sausage (removed from casing if links)
• 6 Roma tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup sliced onion
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup half & half
• 9 ounces fresh mini cheese ravioli or 12 ounces frozen mini cheese ravioli
• 6 ounces baby spinach
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• Olive oil spray or 2 teaspoons olive oil

Heat a heavy bottom pot over medium heat. Spray pot with olive oil (or add 2 teaspoons oil). Break up sausage and add sausage pieces, stirring minimally so the sausage caramelizes. Once cooked through, remove sausage from pot and reserve.

Add Roma tomatoes, flesh side down, onion and garlic on top of tomatoes or in the center if the size of the pot permits. Let the ingredients caramelize, untouched, for 5 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the ingredients are softened, about 30 minutes.

Remove from heat, add half and half, and blend with an immersion blender until mostly smooth. Alternately, you can purée in batches in a stand blender.

Return to a simmer. Add the ravioli. Return sausage to soup and add spinach and Parmesan. Stir and simmer until the soup is warmed through, the pasta is cooked, and the spinach is wilted. Ladle into bowls and serve with additional Parmesan, if desired. Makes 5 servings.

This wasn’t quite up to the level of the other recipes we’ve tried from my list, but it came close. We definitely want to try it again, and I think our ideas will bring it up to snuff. This makes five recipes made, six to go. (Remember, my list actually had eleven recipes 😄)

Happy eating, everyone!