Crock Pot Italian Noodle Soup with Goat Milk Mozzarella

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Along the lines of the previous stromboli post, here's another favorite recipe in the Italian vein that features the goat milk mozzarella.  And it is equally easy - set it up in the crock pot in the morning, 30 minutes before dinner add the uncooked pasta, and serve with plenty of grated or sliced mozzarella on top, melting beautifully and yummily into the soup!  A large crockpot works best for this.  If you would like to use one of the smaller ones, I suggest taking the entire recipe in half.


Ingredients

1 lb Italian sausage (I use homemade Italian goat sausage)

 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes OR 1 quart jar home canned tomatoes (chopped as needed)

 1 6 oz can tomato paste

 2 onions, chopped

 5 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

 2 tblspn dried Italian herbs - really this is flexible, whatever combination of basil and oregano you would like, sage is also a good addition

 2 bay leaves

 6 cups chicken broth

 10 oz rotini pasta (bow-ties are also good)

 Goat milk mozzarella cheese

Steps that can be done the night before...

Brown the sausage.  Chop the onions and slice the garlic cloves.  Assemble the jars of tomatoes and the dried herbs and bay leaves.

In the morning...

Put all ingredients except the pasta and cheese into the crock pot.  Cook on low for about 8 hours (longer by an hour or two is truly fine) or on high for 4 to 6. 

The final steps...

Add the pasta and allow about 30 minutes for it to cook in the soup.  Slice or grate your cheese, or if you're using the pre-grated variety, enjoy the convenience!  My goat milk mozzarella is more of the fresh mozzarella variety, most recognizable as buffalo mozzarella/mozzarella di bufala...but obviously, made from goat milk, not buffalo's.  Wow we'd really have to rethink pasture rotation if we did that!  Anyway, this type is best sliced.

Serve the soup into wide flat bowls (well...because that allows for more cheese...) and scatter the cheese across the top.  Watch it melt as you carry it to the table!

Nooooooooooo!  Actually she (our dog Bibi) did not do it. 

But oh it was close!