Zuppa Toscana Soup; Mountain Version

    Zuppa Toscana Soup is an Olive Garden favorite.
    No this mountain version is not made with squirrel. This is just the creamy version of this Italian soup I make in my mountain kitchen.
    I actually loathe the Olive Garden and fake Italian food.
   I actually thought I hated Italian food until my best friend dragged me kicking and screaming to Venice Italy a few years ago.
    There I discovered potato pastries deep fried and studded with currants. I discovered that I actually love dry white wine and I found that Italians in Venice eat more seafood, olives and marinated aubergines than they do bland red pasta sauce.
    Here is my version of Zuppa Toscana; and yeah, I believe it beats the Olive Garden Version. If you want to check it out, you can always head over to Olive Garden with an Olive Garden Gift Card and compare notes if you are going to try to make it.

Zuppa Toscana Soup

1 1/2 cups turkey broth
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 a white onion, diced
1 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
4 hot Italian sausage links
1 cup creme fraiche
1 cup kale
2 russet potatoes, sliced into bite size pieces.
1/4 cup manchego cheese, shredded

Heat the olive oil and cook the onion in it and than add the garlic for just a minute.
Cut the sausage links into bite size pieces and add the sausage links. Add the potato chunks as well. When the sausage has browned a bit and the potatoes are just getting a little color, add the turkey stock.
Let the soup simmer for thirty minutes. Add the kale and let cook for ten minutes.
Stir in the heavy cream and the creme fraiche.
When ready to serve, sprinkle manchego cheese over the top.