New Soup Recipe

We had dinner with new friends at their house last night.  Debbie served this delicious soup and gave us the recipe.  I checked allrecipes.com to see if it was also posted there because I wanted to share it with my daughter in Nebraska.  Here is a link to it there if you want to read reviews--or write one.  We thought it was excellent so I will also add it to the Recipes #1 page.

Lasagna Soup with Cheesy Yum

Soup:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 1/2 pounds bulk Italian sausage

3 cups chopped onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

6 cups chicken stock

2 (15 ounce) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 (8 ounce) package rotini pasta

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cheesy Yum:

8 ounces ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 pinch freshly ground black pepper

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir sausage in hot oil until slightly brown and crumbly, about 5 minutes. Stir onion in sausage; cook and stir until softened, about 6 minutes.

Stir garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes into onion mixture; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato paste; cook and stir until mixture has a brick-red color, 3 to 4 minutes.

Pour chicken stock, diced tomatoes, and bay leaves into pot; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until flavors combine, about 30 minutes. Add rotini to pot and cook until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes; drain. Stir in basil and season soup with salt and black pepper.

Stir ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pinch black pepper in a bowl until well-combined.

Place a dollop of cheese mixture in the bottom of a soup bowl. Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese over cheese mixture and ladle soup over the top. Repeat with remaining cheese mixture, mozzarella, and soup.