Creamy Potato & Sausage Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 sausages any flavor
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 stalks celery sliced
• 2 carrots sliced
• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 potatoes medium, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 ½ cups light cream or half and half
• salt to taste
• pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a soup pot. Remove the sausage from the casing, add to the pot, break up the sausage with a spatula and fry until golden on the outside and cooked all the way through, then remove to a separate plate. (If your sausage is very fatty, remove the excess fat but leave 2 tbsp in the pot)
2. To the same pot, add the chopped onion, celery and sliced carrots and cook for 10 minutes over low heat. Then add minced garlic, thyme, and tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds longer. Sprinkle the flour all over and combine with the fat until it turns into a paste, continue cooking for a couple of minutes, then bring the sausage back in.
3. Pour a bit of the chicken stock in and stir until well combined with the roux, then pour in the rest and add the 2 bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and cook over low to medium heat for 30 minutes, then add the cubed potatoes and cook for 15 minutes longer until the potatoes are cooked. Then pour in the cream and season with salt and pepper, allow the cream to warm through, then take off the heat. Serve with chopped fresh parsley.