Polish Wonder Pot

Have you seen the "one pot" pasta meals that have been making the rounds online?  You know, the ones where you throw a bunch of ingredients, including uncooked pasta, in a big pot and before you know it, dinner is ready.  This is a simple version that uses smoky kielbasa sausage and takes only about 30 minutes to make.  Here's how it's done.

Start by sauteing a pound of kielbasa in a dry skillet over medium heat until brown on both sides. The kielbasa will render its own fat so no need to add any oil to the pan.

When the kielbasa is brown, remove it from the pan and set aside until later.

In the same pan, saute the sliced onions in the rendered kielbasa fat.

Stir the onions occasionally until they turn translucent and begin to caramelize.

Return the kielbasa to the pan.

Add 1 1/2 cups of your favorite tomato sauce (try my delicious san marzano tomato sauce recipe).

Stir in 4 cups of water. Raise heat and bring mixture to a boil.

Add 1 pound of dry fettuccini. Be sure to use fettuccine - other pasta would require a different amount of water and I haven't had time to experiment.

Press the fettuccine into the liquid and move it around a little to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Lower the heat back to medium.

Stir frequently until the liquid is absorbed and the pasta is cooked "al dente". This should take 10-15 minutes.

Turn off the heat and stir in a handful of fresh spinach.

Taste carefully and season with salt and pepper before serving. You may or may not need to add any depending on how flavorful your tomato sauce was.

That's it - plate it up and dig in!

Polish Wonder Pot

makes 6 servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 pound kielbasa, sliced into 1/4-inch thick coins

• 1 large onion, sliced

• 1 1/2 cups flavorful tomato sauce (jarred or homemade)

• 4 cups water

• 1 pound dry fettuccine

• 1 handful fresh spinach leaves

Directions

1. In a very wide skillet or stockpot over medium heat, saute kielbasa on both sides until browned; remove from pan and set aside until needed.

2. In the same skillet or stockpot, saute onions in rendered kielbasa fat until they turn translucent and begin to caramelize (add olive oil if needed).

3. Return browned kielbasa to pan.

4. Add tomato sauce and water; stir well to combine.

5. Raise heat to high and bring to a boil.

6. Add fettuccine, submerging it in the boiling liquid as best you can, moving a bit to keep the pasta from sticking together.

7. Lower heat to medium and stir pasta occasionally until liquid is absorbed and pasta is cooked "al dente".

8. Remove from heat and stir in spinach.

9. Stir well and season with salt and pepper if needed.

Better than OG's Zuppa Toscana (Hearty Tuscan Soup)

It's that crazy time of the year when the weather doesn't quite know if it should be warm or cold.  In other words, perfect soup weather—not that I need cold weather to enjoy soup, but it does seem a bit more appropriate when there's a chill in the air.   

A dear friend recently had surgery so I volunteered to bring her dinner.  She and I occasionally have lunch together and every time we've eaten at Olive Garden, she's ordered their Zuppa Toscana.  I’ve had it once or twice, and it’s fine, but it’s very frothy and kind of skimpy on everything else so I set out to make a heartier version.  

The verdict, I received an email saying my friend’s family loved the soup and one of her family members declared it the best soup she'd ever had.  I don't know about that, but who am I to argue?  

Alright, let me walk you through the process of making this awesome soup. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the full recipe.

Start with sweet Italian sausage (although hot sausage works equally well if that’s what you like).  

Break up the sausage as it cooks.  This awesome tool really helps crumble beef, turkey, or sausage as you brown it.

Cook the sausage until no traces of pink remain.

Remove the cooked sausage from the pan, leaving the rendered fat in the pan to cook the onions and garlic.

Saute the onions and garlic in the rendered sausage fat.

When the onions are translucent, add the potatoes.  I cut my potatoes into small pieces so they'd cook fast, but you can leave them in larger slices like the restaurant if you prefer.  Oops, I forgot to add the carrots here so I’ll fix that later, but you should add yours now.

Return the sausage to the pan and add the chicken stock and bacon (I had some turkey bacon to use up, but I usually use regular bacon).  Simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender.

When the potatoes are tender, add the chopped kale.

The kale will wilt down quite a bit.

This is where I realized that I had forgotten to add the carrots earlier so I put them in a microwave safe container, with a little of the chicken stock from the pan, and I cooked them for a few minutes to soften before adding them to the soup.  That little bit of extra color adds so much!

Just before serving, stir in the heavy cream and chopped fresh parsley.

View fullsize

Don't forget to taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if needed.  Enjoy!

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• meat chopper thingy https://amzn.to/3sSr3kz

• enameled cast iron braiser https://amzn.to/3fp5BAU

• my favorite knife https://amzn.to/34n8zju

• the world's best vegetable peeler! (not good for lefties) https://amzn.to/3r8ZhQQ

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Hearty Tuscan Soup (Zuppa Toscana)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage

• 1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 pound russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices (or dice if you need them to cook faster)

• 2 large carrots, peeled and minced

• 1/2 cup chopped cooked bacon

• 5 cups chicken broth (homemade is best - try my easy recipe here)

• 3 cups chopped kale (no stems)

• 1 cup heavy cream

• salt and pepper to taste

• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

• optional: 28 ounces canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

Directions

1. Remove sausage from casing if purchased in link form.

2. In a large pan, heat oil and brown sausage until cooked through, breaking up large clumps as you go; remove from pan and reserve.

3. In same pan, saute onions in the rendered sausage fat until translucent; add the garlic and sauté 30 seconds more.

4. Add potatoes, carrots, sausage, bacon, and chicken broth; simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes or until carrots and potatoes are tender.

5. Add chopped kale; simmer for another 10 minutes.

6. Stir in heavy cream and adjust salt and pepper if needed.

7. Stir in chopped parsley and optional cannellini beans just before serving.

Note

• For an even more hearty version, add a can or two of rinsed and drained cannellini beans about 5 minutes before serving.