I don’t frequent chain restaurants. It’s not personal, I just usually favor the small, hometown place with the local flare. That said, I never pass up an opportunity to visit Maggiano’s Little Italy in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. After some shopping on Friday, my entourage consisting of my mom and my aunt and uncle stopped in for lunch.
The first thing that hooks me each time I walk into Maggiano’s is the atmosphere. The clanking dishes, the buzz of conversation, the music, the black and white mosaic, tile floors...in short, you had me at “table or booth.” I always expect to see Frank and Dino sipping tumblers of Jack Daniels on the rocks as I stroll past the bar.
The food is nothing to shrug at either. Growing up in an Italian household eating authentic Italian American food, I’m pretty particular about my tomato sauce. I’ve found that Maggiano’s doesn’t disappoint.
That particular afternoon, if you ordered a half order of pasta from the featured entrée list, you got a half order of pasta to bring home for dinner. The pastas did not have to be the same. It was really hard to pass up as I thought of the rush to figure out what I was going to make for dinner after a long day of shopping and relaxing at the mall. That alone made it worth the trip.
My uncle ordered the Tuscan Sausage and Orzo soup. While I thought it sounded good, I refrained, anticipating the carb rush I was about to embark on. I had second thoughts when it arrived all fennelly and sausagy. The aroma was irresistible. Uncle Jack insisted that I try it (ok. He didn’t have to twist my arm). It was delicious. Incidentally, my uncle also ordered the chicken and spinach manicotti. The two-manicotti platter arrived and, while it looked rich and delicious, it did look small from the Maggiano’s standpoint. My uncle happily enjoyed it stating that, due to the richness of the dish, it was plenty only to get another entrée brought to him by the manager a couple of minutes later containing three manicotti. I guess the manager thought it looked small as well. My uncle still insisted that the first platter was plenty but the manager insisted it was insufficient. The four of us rolled out of Maggiano’s Little Italy each toting leftovers with an additional entrée in hand.
In the end, I ate lunch and my entire family of four ate dinner for the bargain price of about twelve dollars. And we ate well.
I left thinking that I would surely order the Tuscan Sausage soup on my next visit. My teaspoon of a taste did provide me with enough flavor to maybe duplicate the soup at home on Saturday. The local weather report called for a cold and rainy day thus a perfect soup day at our house.
Here’s what I came up with. I’m posting this for those of you who like to experiment in the kitchen. I want you to see that I tasted something at a restaurant and tried to make it at home without a recipe, thus I am admitting that the following recipe is not perfect! It’s just how I went about trying to recreate a soup I tasted at Maggiano’s.
My results are mixed. I definitely have some tweaking to do but I am very happy with my flavor result. I found that the soup was definitely better the next day. So if you want to try this soup, prepare it with the idea that you are going to eat it the following day. Also note that I went big. But the leftovers (pre-pasta’d) will freeze nicely.
Sausage Fennel Soup
Approximately 3 lbs sweet, Italian sausage, loose
1 onion, diced
1 small fennel bulb, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
12 c. chic
ken broth
28 oz diced tomatoes
1 c. canned tomato sauce
2 19 oz cans cannellini beans (white beans)
½ tsp. fennel seed
Salt and pepper to taste
Fennel stalks with the greens tied with kitchen string (see photo)
1 cup of small pasta (like orzo or ditalini)
Approximately 3 lbs sweet, Italian sausage, loose
1 onion, diced
1 small fennel bulb, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
12 c. chic
ken broth28 oz diced tomatoes
1 c. canned tomato sauce
2 19 oz cans cannellini beans (white beans)
½ tsp. fennel seed
Salt and pepper to taste
Fennel stalks with the greens tied with kitchen string (see photo)
1 cup of small pasta (like orzo or ditalini)
Heat large pan. Fry sausage without browning. Break the sausage up as much as you can with a spoon as you cook it. Drain the sausage and set it aside. Drain the oil from the pan leaving enough to sauté the vegetables until soft. Add the fennel seed and a pinch of salt and pepper to the vegetables.
In a stock pot, add the sausage, vegetables, broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce and white beans. Add your tied fennel stalks to the pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally.
I added my pasta to the pot at this point and we ate the soup for dinner. The next time, I will cool the soup and refrigerate it for the next day, take off any fat that is on the top and separate it in to freezer containers. I also would cook the pasta in the soup and decide the amount based on the size if your batch of soup. I used one cup of ditalini for the large batch of soup.
