RECIPE: Tuscan Bean & Spicy Sausage Soup

This is a great recipe for a cold winters day!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 oz. pancetta or prosciutto, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 (15 oz.) can navy, white or cannellini beans, drained (about 2 cups)
• 1 spicy Italian sausage and 2 sweet Italian sausages (or you can use all spicy)
• 1 quart homemade or good quality chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• Several sprigs of fresh thyme
• Sea salt, freshly ground pepper
• fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Recipe makes 6 servings.

RECIPE

1. Put the oil into a saucepan and heat well; then add the onion, garlic, pancetta, carrot and celery.
2. Cook over low heat for 10 mins. until softened but not browned.
3. Add the beans, the whole sausages, stock, bay leaf, thyme, salt, and pepper.
4. Bring to a boil; cover with a lid, reduce heat and simmer for 30 mins.
5. Skim off any excess fat, then remove the sausages and slice them diagonally.
6. Remove the thyme stems and bay leaf.
7. Return the sausages to the soup and add the fresh parsley right before serving the soup.
8. Let cook a few more minutes then serve.
9. This is a brothy soup as opposed to a thick bean soup.
10. Top each with a little freshly grated Parmesan, if desired. Good served with homemade garlic bread or garlic breadsticks.

(Source: Barbara Walch, adapted from Everyday Entertaining)