Sausage and White Bean Soup
I had a sausage and white bean soup at a friends house on New Years Eve and have been on a quest ever since to find the recipe. I found this one on the internet and it sounds close to what she makes. I typically rinse and drain my beans so Im a little hesitant with the undrained beans part. Ill have to test it out and tweak as necessary.
I had a sausage and white bean soup at a friends house on New Years Eve and have been on a quest ever since to find the recipe. I found this one on the internet and it sounds close to what she makes. I typically rinse and drain my beans so Im a little hesitant with the undrained beans part. Ill have to test it out and tweak as necessary.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 1 1/2 lbs sweet or hot italian sausage in the casing
- 2 ounces prosciutto thinly sliced and minced
- 2 medium onions diced medium
- 2 medium carrots peeled and diced medium
- 2 medium celery stalks diced medium
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 3 15.8 ounce cans cannellini or northern beans undrained
- Carbohydrate 5.2489907009375 g
- Cholesterol 68.906912725 mg
- Fat 31.4828042851875 g
- Fiber 1.10075000822544 g
- Protein 13.7820336359375 g
- Saturated Fat 10.9465937685625 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (259g)
- Sodium 1148.74816713125 mg
- Sugar 4.14824069271206 g
- Trans Fat 2.0107795724375 g
- Calories 362 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat oil in a large, deep saute pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add sausages; cook, turning once or twice, until well-browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. (Sausage will not be fully cooked at this point.) Remove from pan. When cool enough to handle, cut into slices 1/4-inch thick.
- Add prosciutto, onions, carrots, celery and thyme to the empty skillet; cook, stirring often, until well browned, 8 to 10 minutes.
- In a small bowl, mash one can of beans with a fork into a chunky puree.
- Add broth, whole and mashed beans, and sausage; cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, partially covered, to blend flavors, 20 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes; serve.
Operating on a strict thirty-minute timeline requires relying on canned legumes rather than dried varieties, which eliminates hours of overnight soaking and long simmering. Historically, rustic Mediterranean bean broths relied on residual starches to achieve thickness without heavy cream or flour. Preserving that traditional mouthfeel in a rapid preparation depends entirely on a single mechanical step: mashing one portion of the beans before adding them to the pot. Releasing that internal starch into the chicken broth creates the necessary body while the sausage renders its fat.
- Substitute turkey or chicken sausage for the pork varieties to lower the saturated fat content while maintaining the seasoning profile.
- Retain the canning liquid on the beans because those starches act as a natural thickening agent for the broth.
- Brown the aromatic vegetables and minced prosciutto thoroughly in the rendered meat fat for 8 to 10 minutes to build a deep foundation of umami before introducing liquids.
- Allow the finished broth to rest off the heat for 10 minutes to let the temperature drop slightly, which rounds out the sharper herbal notes of the dried thyme.
Adapting traditional pantry combinations for modern constraints preserves authentic flavors without demanding extra hours at the stove. Proper starch dispersion turns a simple broth into a cohesive, substantial dish.
