Roasted Italian Sausage Soup Recipe with Garbanzos, Lentils, and Roasted Tomatoes

You may be thinking this is nothing more than a soup recipe, but actually it's a Public Service Announcement for cooks in the Southern Hemisphere, where summer is winding down and it's time to be focused on making slow roasted tomatoes. Tossing fresh garden-ripened tomatoes with olive oil and a few herbs and then slowly roasting them all day concentrates the tomato flavor in a wonderfully delicious way that reminds you of summer again when you eat them (even when you're in Utah and it's snowing again.) Of course, this soup would still be good if you made it with canned tomatoes, but the slow roasted tomatoes really make it fabulous.

Of all the kitchen experiments I've been inspired to try from reading food blogs, nothing has impacted my cooking more than the slow roasted tomatoes I first heard about in 2005 from Cookiecrumb, Alanna, and Stephen, even though it was a year later before I got on the roasted tomato bandwagon. Of course everyone knows tomatoes are a healthy food, but you may not realize cooking actually concentrates the nutrients, including the cancer-fighting lycopene. I love the way it turns out that roasting provides a nutritional benefit as well as the wonderful flavor boost. Tomatoes are the fruit that wants to be a vegetable, but that's okay because you can write about any herb, plant, vegetable, or flower for Weekend Herb Blogging. I hope this week's host, Anna from Morsels and Musings, will enjoy my roasted tomatoes announcement since she's in the southern hemisphere. (Anna, have you made any roasted tomatoes this year?) Now keep reading for what may be the last soup recipe of this winter, (fingers crossed for no more snow), plus some roasted tomato ideas from other bloggers after the recipe.

Roasted Italian Sausage Soup with Garbanzos, Lentils, and Roasted Tomatoes
(Makes six generous servings, recipe created by Kalyn when it was cold outside and she didn't want to leave the house to buy groceries.)

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (5 links) turkey Italian sausage (I like hot, but you can use mild sausage if you prefer)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tsp. olive oil (more or less, depending on your pan)
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. ground fennel
1 T minced garlic
1 cup slow roasted tomatoes, finely chopped
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
(if you don't have roasted tomatoes, use 2 cans diced tomatoes, with liquid plus 2 T tomato paste)
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas) mashed slightly (freshly cooked garbanzos would have been better, but I only had canned)
1/2 cup brown lentils
4 cups chicken stock
4 cups water (or partly tomato liquid if using canned tomatoes)
2-3 T fresh chopped basil (optional, I used my frozen basil)
freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional, for serving soup)

Instructions:

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 F. Lightly grease roasting pan with olive oil, place sausages on pan and roast about 40 minutes, until skins are slightly hardened and browned. When sausage has cooled slightly, cut into half lengthwise, then slice.

While sausage roasts, heat olive oil in heavy soup pot and saute onions about 5 minutes, until softened and barely starting to color. Add oregano, fennel, and garlic and saute 2-3 minutes more. Add roasted tomatoes, diced canned tomatoes, chicken stock, water, garbanzo beans, and lentils. Simmer 40-60 minutes, until lentils are very soft and starting to slightly break apart.

Add sliced sausage to soup. Deglaze roasting pan with 1 cup water, scraping off all browned bits on the bottom of pan, and add to soup. Simmer 30 minutes more. Stir in fresh basil if using and cook 2-3 minutes more. Serve hot, with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired.



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South Beach Suggestions:
Using turkey Italian sausage, this soup would be a perfect meal for any phase of the South Beach Diet. For phase two or three, you could add 100% whole wheat bread or toasted pita bread as shown in the photo.

Slow Roasted Tomato Love from Kalyn:
Italian Sausage and Zucchini Soup
Roasted Tomato Soup with Ground Beef, Sausage, Garbanzos, Macaroni, and Basil
Pasta Salad with Slow Roasted Tomatoes, Grilled Zucchini, and Basil
Slow Roasted Tomato Hummus

More Ideas with Roasted Tomatoes:
(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly, check ingredients.)
Bolognese Sauce with Slow Roasted Tomatoes from A Veggie Venture
Slow Roasted Tomato Soup from A Veggie Venture
Slow Roasted Tomato Risotto from Stephen Cooks
Slow Roasted Tomato Bruschetta from The Perfect Pantry
Roasted Tomato Round-up from Swirling Notions
Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup from Nook and Pantry
Corn Pancake with Slow Roasted Tomatoes and Salted Grapes from Food Lover's Journey
Slow Roasted Tomato Dip from The Inadvertent Gardener
Roasted Tomato Risotto with Basil Oil from The Paupered Chef
Roasted Pesto Tomatoes from Sidewalk Shoes

Want even more recipes?
I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.