With winter just around the corner, nothing can beat a tasty hot soup for dinner. Unfortunately for the average college student, these hot home-cooked meals come only once in a blue moon, due to a lack of time, culinary skill, or money. Well there’s one Italian soup that’s easily made, whether it’s in a crockpot or on a stove, isn’t horribly expensive, and doesn’t take all that much time. Zuppa Toscana is made with nothing more than Italian sausage, potatoes, onions, kale, bacon bits, whipping cream, and your average chicken broth, and if you’ve got a slow cooker, all it takes is throwing most everything in for three or four hours that you’ll then have as free time. It’s a great winter soup that’ll warm you straight to your bones and keep you coming back for more.
Things you need to make Zuppe
Before you do anything, you may need to take a trip to the grocery store to make Zuppa Toscana. In the produce section, you will need a red or white onion, depending on personal preference, some fresh garlic, three Russet potatoes, and kale. In the meat department, of your grocery store you will need bacon and Italian sausage, mild or spicy depending on your taste. In the soup aisle, you will need two cans of chicken broth. Then finally in the dairy department, you will need shredded parmesan cheese and 8oz of whipping cream. You will also need a crock pot, a frying pan, a cutting board, a pancake flipper, and a few knives.
Let’s make some Zuppa
The process of making the Zuppa Toscana is not as difficult as you may think. Set aside about 20 to 30 minutes for preparation. Start by making sure that you wash up, and that you have everything you need. See the section above for a list of ingredients and materials.
The first step is prepping the crock pot. Pour the chicken broth into the pot and when you are done you can just use one of the left over cans for water. Fill about ¾’s of the can with water and add it to the crock pot. Now we are ready to add the rest of the ingredients.
The next step is taking the Italian sausage and browning it. Browning is a process of frying the meat until it is cooked or has a nice brown or even grey color. Turn the burner on at a medium heat and set the pan on the burner. When the frying pan is hot you can add the sausage. Take the pancake flipper and start to chop up or separate the meat. You want it to look almost like taco meat. Move and flip the meat at regular intervals so that it does not burn. Once completed, you can add it directly to the broth in the crock pot. 
Next we cube the potatoes. Allowing the potatoes to soak in some water will make cutting them a bit easier. Start by slicing the potatoes into about 1/2 inch strips. Then, taking the strips, lay them down and cut them in half, then into thirds. You may want to cut them even further into smaller cubes, depending on personal preference.
Chopping the onion comes next. Start by cutting it in half, and then cut one of those halves in half. Lay the onion on the cutting board so that the outer layers are on the bottom. Then you want to go and slice the short way first, then cut into smaller pieces. Good sizes for the onions are about a square with each side being about a centimeter.
Mincing the garlic takes a little more skill. You’re going to want a bigger knife here as smaller knives make mincing garlic far more difficult that it needs to be. Once you have peeled the garlic, making sure that all of the fragile skin is off, start by pressing the flat side of the knife to the garlic. For the best results, hold the knife in one hand with the flat side over the garlic, and hit the other side of the knife; don’t worry about holding back. You want to try and make it flat; this will help you mince the garlic. Now if it is difficult for you to press the garlic try cutting it in half. You can also purchase pre minced garlic at almost any grocery store. If you do this you will only need about a half a table spoon of pre-minced garlic.Now as you finish each step you can keep adding to the crock pot. If it looks as if you need more broth, then add more water. Do not exceed a cup of water. You don’t want to water down the broth that much or you will lose the flavor. Also, do not add the kale until after everything else is cooked. Adding the kale now will only make it limp and tasteless once it has been cooked. Now when you have finished everything plug in your crock pot and let it cook on high for 3-4 hours, or until the potatoes are soft. Now while you are waiting for it to cook here is the delicious history of Zuppa Toscana and other Tuscan foods.
History
When it comes to food from Tuscany, such as Zuppa Toscana, or Tuscan soup as it’s translated, simplicity is the key. Many Tuscan foods have peasant origins, and Zuppa Toscana is no exception being a common “poor man’s” soup. It’s made from basic, cheap, and common ingredients of the time and place, such as kale, which is pretty much what makes Zuppa Toscana what it is. Simple ingredients, such as kale, olive oil, minestrone, and other such common things, made up much of Tuscan cooking. This made good food cheap for the average Tuscan peasant and continues to provide us with delicious, cultural meals, even if the ingredients aren’t quite as cheap or easy to come by as they once were.
3-4 hours later
When the soup has finished it will be very hot. Now what you want to do is add a cup of heavy whipping cream. This will help thicken the soup and give it a creamy, white appearance. Now when it comes to cutting the kale you mainly want the green tips of the leaf. This is one of the ingredients that you may want to choose how much to put in by personal preference, but I personally add about 1-2 cups of Kale per batch. When it comes to the bacon and Parmesan cheese you can choose the amount of the ingredients. A yummy addition to this soup is adding mushrooms. You don’t need a lot but it adds to the heartiness of the soup.
This soup is a great college meal. Simple and cheap, this soup will still give you the warm home-cooked meal feeling. Little skill and equipment is needed to impress your roommate with your culinary skill. It can also be used as a great group project, so invite your friends and get together to create this delicious meal. Best part of the project is eating it when it’s done! For about $15 you get enough soup to feed about five friends, or enough for 5 separate meals. So as a college student, you will definitely appreciate Zuppa Toscana!
-Katie Maas, Cassi Schick, Beth Dier, Mandy Jakups
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