italian sausage meatball soup

We are hitting soup weather once again. Even with the intermittent heat.

So, it’s time to round out with a clean eating soup, that takes advantage of pre-seasoned italian sausage, and tons of farm fresh veggies.

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp evoo

2 lbs ground italian sausage (either pork or chicken works)

2 leeks, halved, sliced, and washed

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried basil

1/3 tsp white pepper

2 yellow squash, halved and sliced

1 zucchini or italian squash, halved and sliced

1 clamshell crimini mushrooms, sliced

10 cups chicken bone broth

3 cups spinach

1 bunch italian parsley, stems discarded and rough chopped

Directions:

Using a melon baller, create small meatballs from the italian sausage.

In a heavy bottom dutch oven, on medium high heat, bring evoo to shimmer.

Once shimmering, add meatballs, working in batches to brown. Once browned, remove and set aside.

Turn heat to medium.

Add leeks and sauté for 5 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Add garlic, and sauté for 2 minutes. Stir to prevent burning.

Add tomato paste, basil, salt, pepper, squash and mushrooms. Sauté 5 minutes to bring out flavors.

Add broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer. Add meatballs back in.

Let simmer 30-45 minutes to allow flavors to deepen. 5 minutes before serving add in spinach and fresh parsley.