Tomato Sausage And Eggplant (Aubergine) Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil, plus
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 1/2 cups eggplants, unpeeled 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups onions, chopped
1/2 cup fennel or 1/2 cup celery, chopped
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, ground
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme
1 lb sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 (29 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (28 ounce) can whole canned tomatoes, chopped

Preparation

Heat the 1/3 cup of olive oil in a 4-5 quart saucepan.
Add the eggplant and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt.
Sautee over medium high heat, stirring freqently 5 minutes or until tender. Transfer eggplant to a bowl.
In the same pan, heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add onions, celery or fennel, garlic, fennel seed, pepper, bay leaves, remaining salt, basil and thyme. Cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes.
Add sausage and sautee 5-6 minutes breaking meat up into small pieces while cooking.
Add chicken stock, crushed tomatoes, chopped tomatoes with juice, and the eggplant.
Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes, if soup seems too thick add more stock. Remove bay leaves before serving.