There are three types of dishes that offer up a lot of opportunity for creativity without a lot of risk. Those dishes are soup, salad and pasta.
Here’s a soup recipe that starts with the basics and brings together all of the vegetables from the garden. Also, you can count on the sausage in this soup to get your tastebuds dancing. Which is why we like sausage soups so much at Mediterranean Living.
This soup is easy to prepare and a great option for first time soup cooks. One recipe makes two meals for four.
Sausage and Vegetable Soup with Rice
Ingredients
- 1 red onion
- 2 celery stalks
- 4 medium carrots
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 3 32 oz containers good quality chicken broth
- 1 to 1 1/4 pounds flavored chicken or pork sausages
- 16 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 zucchini, sliced
- salt and pepper
- 2 cups cooked basmati rice
- 2 red skinned potatoes, boiled and sliced
- 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
- 2 tbsp. chopped parsley
- 4 scallions, sliced
Instructions
- In a food processor, chop red onion, celery stalks and 2 of the carrots. Cook mixture on on low-medium for 5 minutes. Slice additional 2 carrots. Add carrots and chopped red pepper and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add additional olive oil if needed.
- Add the 3 - 32 oz containers of chicken broth and bring to a boil.
- As you are bringing the stock to a boil, cook the sausages, turning as needed, in a frying pan w/ a small amount of olive oil until fully cooked. Once the soup has risen to a boil, adjust to medium-low heat. Remove sausages from the frying pan and allow to slightly cool. Thinly slice sausages and add to soup.
- Add sliced cremini mushrooms and zucchini to the frying pan. Cook on medium until fully cooked, stirring as needed. Add mushrooms and zucchini to the soup.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to simmer and simmer soup for 45 minutes
- Warm basmati rice and potatoes in a microwave. Add a small portion of basmati rice and potatoes to a bowl and ladle soup on top. Garnish with cilantro, parsley and scallions.
Nutrition
Calories: 304kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 15gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 50mgSodium: 769mgPotassium: 767mgFiber: 3gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 6256IUVitamin C: 29mgCalcium: 50mgIron: 2mg
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About the Author: Christine Dutton
Christine is the Wellness Manager with Mediterranean Living. She is passionate about wellness, fitness and food. Basically, she runs to eat! You can find her in the kitchen, experimenting with recipes or in the great outdoors on a long training run. She has a long-time love for Asian and Mediterranean cuisine and she particularly loves cooking with vegetables. She considers making
vegetable carpacios to be a hobby. You can count on her to do too early stalking of farm fields in Hadley for local asparagus and waiting with baited breath for the Mountain View CSA and Golonka Farm Stand to open for the summer season. She loves supporting the local food economy through her service with the River Valley Market board of directors in Northampton, MA.
