I love a good bowl of soup so much that even in the hot Singapore weather, I find ways and means of having a hearty bowl of soup with a slice or 2 of crusty seed laden bread. And I prefer the chunky form of soups to the pureed forms. There are a couple of exceptions to this but mostly the preference is for chunky hearty soups which are a meal in a bowl. This sausage and vegetable soup is my way of satisfying my chunky soup craving that is very healthy and full of flavor and is really good for the soul.

It is a medley of lovely vegetables and the key to adding vegetables to your soup is primarily understanding how they cook and what they add to the soup. This soup has the standard onion, celery, carrot, garlic base which is cooked till the veggies are slightly tender and then canned tomatoes are used to prepare the broth of the soup. The reason for using canned tomatoes is that there is a lot of consistency in taste and texture that can be achieved by using canned tomatoes vs fresh ones. I find it very hard to always find tomatoes which are bursting with flavor so I prefer to keep a few cans handy in my pantry all the time.

The other part of the soup that is amazingly flavorful and filling is the sausage. I will not recommend using pre-cooked sausage for this recipe. I prefer to use the fresh sausages, cut open the casings and use the filling inside. One can use ground meat also and add seasonings and flavors to it to resemble sausage meat but I like to take it easy once in a while. An important part of getting the sausage meat tender and delicious is to grind the sausage meat one more time in the food processor. Add egg, bread crumbs and all the herbs and seasonings that your heart desires. This is also important because this meat will add more flavor to the broth.

If you want to keep the soup meatless, you may replace the sausage with beans, soya nuggets or even tofu. But the carnivore in me looks forward to the soft nuggets of meat accompanying the delicious vegetables. That is also what makes this soup so filling. I invite you to try it, experiment with the base, add vegetables as you like and any other seasonings that you prefer. The soup pot is your playground!

Ingredients:

For the soup

1/2 cup finely diced onion

1/2 cup diced celery

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup diced green zucchini

1/2 cup diced yellow zucchini

1/4 cup diced baby green beans

1/2 cup chopped fresh baby spinach

1 can whole peeled tomatoes

1/4 tsp dried thyme or 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

For the meatballs

2 garlic and herb sausages, meat removed from the casings

1 egg

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried parsley

1 pinch pizza chili flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Add 1 tsp of oil to a soup pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion, celery and carrots to the pot and season with a pinch of salt. Saute till the vegetables are slightly soft.

2. Blend the canned tomatoes in a food processor. Add the tomatoes to the vegetables. Cook uncovered over medium heat till the tomatoes are cooked. Add salt, pepper and dried thyme.

3. Blend all the ingredients for the meatballs in a food processor. Drop the meatball mixture into the tomato vegetable mixture one spoonful at a time. Once all the meat is in the pot, cover and cook for 1-2 minutes till the meatballs are slightly cooked.

4. Add the remaining vegetables to the soup and add water as needed per the desired consistency.

5. Cook for another 10 - 15 minutes till the vegetables are cooked through. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add the spinach and let it wilt.

6. Check for seasoning and serve hot.