Roasted Italian Sausage Soup with Garbanzos, Lentils, and Roasted Tomatoes

Categories: ***, Beans, December2011, Faves, Pork, SBF, Soups, T&T, Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. (5 links) turkey Italian sausage (I like hot, but you can use mild sausage if you prefer)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tsp. olive oil (more or less, depending on your pan)
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 tsp. ground fennel
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 cup slow roasted tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 can diced tomatoes with juice
• (if you don't have roasted tomatoes, use 2 cans diced tomatoes, with liquid plus 2 T tomato paste)
• 1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas) mashed slightly (freshly cooked garbanzos would have been better, but I only had canned)
• 1/2 cup brown lentils
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 4 cups water (or partly tomato liquid if using canned tomatoes)
• 2-3 T fresh chopped basil (optional, I used my frozen basil)
• freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional, for serving soup)

Directions

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 F. Lightly grease roasting pan with olive oil, place sausages on pan and roast about 40 minutes, until skins are slightly hardened and browned. When sausage has cooled slightly, cut into half lengthwise, then slice.

2. While sausage roasts, heat olive oil in heavy soup pot and saute onions about 5 minutes, until softened and barely starting to color. Add oregano, fennel, and garlic and saute 2-3 minutes more. Add roasted tomatoes, diced canned tomatoes, chicken stock, water, garbanzo beans, and lentils. Simmer 40-60 minutes, until lentils are very soft and starting to slightly break apart.

3. Add sliced sausage to soup. Deglaze roasting pan with 1 cup water, scraping off all browned bits on the bottom of pan, and add to soup. Simmer 30 minutes more. Stir in fresh basil if using and cook 2-3 minutes more. Serve hot, with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired.

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