Souper suppers: spicy sausage and bean soup

Surprise, surprise! I got a cookbook for Christmas. And one of the recipes that sounded really good was for a white bean and sausage soup.

But that recipe in the book called for Hillshire Farms link-type sausages. . . and I sort of have an abhorrence for such things. I really can’t explain it. I’m just not a huge fan! But I thought a nice white bean soup with spicy pork sausage sounded great, so I set about adapting the recipe for my own purposes.

I won’t lie: it wasn’t my favorite soup ever, but it was a nice supper on a cold January day. So if you need a warm up and would like some comforting food, try this one out.

Here’s what you need: 1 lb pork sausage (hot, if you like it) 1/4 c. water 1 tbsp olive oil (give or take) 1 onion, chopped 1 clove of garlic, chopped 2 (15 oz) cans of Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed 2 cans of chopped tomatoes, drained (I didn’t drain mine, oops!) 1 tsp. dried thyme salt and pepper to taste 1 cup chicken stock

1. Cook the sausage in a skillet with 1/4 cup of water. Let the sausage cook until it is no longer pink and most of the water has been absorbed. Drain the sausage, then place the cooked sausage in the bottom of your crock pot.

2. Heat olive oil in the skillet, then add onions and garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring often. You just want the onion to start to go translucent and don’t want to burn the garlic.

3. Add the beans, tomatoes (drained or undrained, according to your taste). Season generously with thyme. Warm through.

4. Add the bean mixture to the sausage in the crock pot. Give everything a good stir, combining the sausage, beans and tomatoes.

5. Stir in 1 cup of chicken broth.

6. Season generously (and to taste) with salt, black pepper, and more thyme if you think it needs more, like I did.

Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. If you’re at home, stir when you can and add seasonings if the broth tastes like it needs it. Because of the large amount of beans in this soup, the broth will thicken a bit. And that’s a very good thing!

6. Enjoy, preferably with a warm wedge of cornbread—at least that’s what I did 🙂