Cannellini Bean Soup w/ Roasted Italian Sausage and Excarole

By nlhartman

From Missy Armstrong. Double recipe if you want to use the whole head of escarole.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb hot or sweet Italian Sausage(2-3 links)Use turkey Italian Sausage for South Beach diet)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 T. finely minced garlic
• 1-2 t. olive olive oil, to saute onions and garlic
• 1 can Cannellini beans(not rinsed)
• 6 cups + 1-2 cups more homemade chicken stock(or use 4 cans + 1 can more chicken broth)
• Pinch hot pepper flakces
• 1/2 large head escarole, thinly sliced and coarsely chopped(use outer leaves and save inner leaves for salad)
• Coarse ground black pepper to taste
• Fresh grated Parmesan cheese for serving

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat over or toaster oven to 425.
Spray a roasting pan with olive oil, then roast sausage until well browned and cooked through, about 25 minutes.
Let sausage cool, then cut into slices about 1/4 inch thick.
When roasting pan has cooled a few minutes, pour in 1/2 c. chicken stock and use a metal turner to scrape off browned bits from the pan.
Add this to the soup when you add the chicken stock. (You can also cook the sausage in a frying pan, but in soup the roasting intensifies the flavor of the turkey sausage.)
While sausage cooks, chop onions and garlic. Heat olive oil in heavy soup pot and saute onions 3-4 minutes, until softened but not brown.
Add garlic and saute 1-2 minutes more.
Add chicken stock(including deglazing liquid from roasting pan.), beans, sliced sausage and hot pepper flakes to soup pot and simmer about 30 minutes.
While soup simmers, wash escarole, slice, and coarsely chop. Add escarole to soup pot, along with additional chicken stock if it seems too thick.
Taste for seasoning and add black pepper to taste.
Let cook 20-30 minutes more, until escarole is starting to break apart slightly.(You may want to use an immersion blender and barely blended the soup after the escarole had cooked about 15 minutes--optional).
Serve hop, with fresh-grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top if desired.