Tuscan-Style Potato Soup

I made this soup back in the Fall and am only now getting around to posting about it. It's a perfect soup for the cold weather. The original recipe has you mashing the roasted garlic (YUM) and cooked potatoes with a food mill, but I just used an immersion blender (if you don't have one of these, I HIGHLY recommend getting one, they're awesome), and it worked out fine.

Tuscan-Style Potato Soup
Courtesy of Cooking Light



2 heads garlic
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cups finely chopped onion, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
2 1/4 pounds cubed peeled Yukon gold potato (about 6 cups)
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
4 ounces pecorino Romano cheese, divided
6 ounces hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 ounce pancetta, finely chopped
1 cup chopped kale
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Cut off pointed end of each garlic head to partially reveal cloves (do not peel or separate the cloves); place each head in the center of a small sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon oil over each head; wrap each in foil. Bake for 45 minutes; cool 10 minutes. Squeeze to extract pulp; discard skins.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 cups onion; sauté 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in pepper, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and potato; sauté 2 minutes. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are very tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic pulp to pot. Remove mixture to a food mill over a large bowl and process, or use immersion blender in pot and process until preferred consistency is reached. Stir in half-and-half. Finely grate 2 ounces cheese to yield 1/2 cup; stir into soup. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add remaining 1/2 cup onion; sauté for 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in 1/8 teaspoon salt, sausage, and pancetta; cook 8 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble sausage.

Cook kale in boiling water for 4 minutes; strain through a sieve over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Grate 1 ounce cheese. Combine kale, reserved cooking liquid, grated cheese, sage, and nuts in a food processor; process until finely ground. With processor on, gradually add 1 tablespoon oil through food chute, processing until combined. Ladle 1 cup soup into bowls; top each serving with sausage mixture. Drizzle each serving with about kale mixture; shave remaining cheese evenly over soup.