My husband and I used to visit a local Italian restaurant that had a pasta dish topped with fresh ricotta cheese. That’s where I learned how incredible a scoop of fresh ricotta is when spooned over a bowl of hot pasta or soup. This soup has a zesty tomato broth filled with ground sausage and tender pasta shells. It’s all topped off with – you guessed it – a big scoop of creamy basil ricotta. Absolute perfection in every way.
Feeling fancy? Dried herbs are delicious in the ricotta cheese mixture, but fresh basil and parsley take it to the next level. Replace the dried herbs with 1 tablespoon each of fresh chopped basil and parsley. Grab a basil plant at the grocery store next time you’re there; it’ll last longer and basil is great on everything from pasta to sandwiches. Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of fresh herbs like basil and parsley are the perfect finishing touch for this soup.
You can also make fresh ricotta cheese with just four ingredients. Easy peasy. You need just milk, cream, salt and vinegar. (See Nilsson’s ricotta recipe here.)
Tomato Soup With Sausage, Pasta and Herbed Ricotta
Ingredients
Herbed Ricotta
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 tsp dried parsley (option to use fresh)
- 1 tsp dried basil (option to use fresh)
- 1 tsp lemon zest
Soup
- 340 g Italian sausage casings removed
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 sweet red pepper diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 can (411 g) whole tomatoes with juices
- 3 cups sodium-reduced chicken broth
- 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp each salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 125 g medium shell pasta
- 1½ cups spinach chopped
Instructions
Herbed Ricotta
- In small bowl, stir together ricotta, parsley, basil and lemon zest. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Soup
- Heat large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sausage and onion and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until no pink remains, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain any fat.
- Add pepper and garlic and cook until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add canned tomatoes with juices, breaking up tomatoes with your hands as you add them. Stir in broth, crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta shells according to package directions. Drain and divide among 6 bowls (see note #2).
- Add spinach to soup; remove from heat and let stand for 3 minutes. Ladle over pasta shells and top each bowl with 2 tbsp of the herbed ricotta.
Notes
Cooking tips
To keep the pasta from getting mushy when storing leftovers, cook it separately, drain and then add to each bowl when serving. If you’d prefer to cook the pasta in the soup itself, add an additional 1 cup (240 mL) water along with the broth, and stir in the pasta during the last 6 minutes of cooking time.More comfort food soups to try
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Lidia Bastianich's recipe for an Italian-style tomato soup with fregola and clams (or another seafood of your choosing).
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Lidia Bastianich's recipe for an Italian-style tomato soup with fregola and clams (or another seafood of your choosing).
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