Lasagna Soup

Do you ever have a craving for a hearty serving of deep dish lasagna? You know–the layers of meat, veggies, pasta, and gooey cheese? Well, with a schedule full of basketball x 2, wrestling, and other school activities (not to mention my own daily chores), that rather labor intensive dish is not in the rotation these days, but this beauty of a recipe is ☺.

The original recipe used fusilli pasta, but I like to use malfaldine. If you are not familiar with malfaldine, it is like mini lasagna sheets. I just break them up into smaller pieces. Use hot or sweet Italian sausage to suit your own taste. Since this bowl of goodness requires a good amount of cheese, use a quality one or, better yet… go homemade. Oh, and don’t forget a side of garlic bread (kind of a must for dunking). Soup is on!

Lasagna Soup

Prep: 15 minsCook: 45 minsTotal: 1 hr Servings: 8 All the comforting flavors of a classic Italian dish with minimal effort!

Equipment

• Large stock pot

Ingredients 

• 1 tablespoon Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 ½ pounds mild or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 (28 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes with juice
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 ounces Malfaldine pasta, broken into smaller pieces
• ½ cup finely chopped fresh basil
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 8 ounces ricotta cheese, homemade or store bought
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated mozzarella cheese
• Crushed red pepper flakes to taste, optional

Instructions 

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the sausage and sauté, breaking it up with the back of a wooden spoon until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove sausage and transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain; reserve one tablespoon of fat in the pan and maintain heat. Add the onion and sauté until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano; sauté for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and sauté until it turns a rusty brown, about 5 minutes.
2. Return the sausage to the pot. Add the tomatoes with juice, stock, bay leaves; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add the pasta, increase the heat to medium-high and boil until tender to the bite, about 8 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Stir in basil and season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to taste
3. In a small bowl combine ricotta, Parmigiano Reggiano, salt and pepper.
4. Divide the ricotta mixture evenly among bowls. Sprinkle with half of the mozzarella. Ladle the soup into the bowls and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top. Enjoy!

Notes

You can other pasta shapes, like fusilli, instead of malfadine. To store: Cool completely and refrigerate in an airtight container up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat: Add more water or broth as needed because the noodles will have absorbed some of the broth.

Nutrition

Calories: 656kcal, Carbohydrates: 34g, Protein: 33g, Fat: 43g, Saturated Fat: 18g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 18g, Cholesterol: 111mg, Sodium: 1286mg, Potassium: 623mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 521IU, Vitamin C: 6mg, Calcium: 322mg, Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.