Sausage & White Bean Soup

Instead of starting with a hambone (which you won’t have unless you’ve just eaten a baked ham) and dried beans (which require significant soaking and simmering time), simply open cans of chicken broth and beans. Minced prosciutto instantly transforms commercial chicken broth into a ham-flavored soup base. Italian sausage reinforces the pork flavor and makes the soup substantial and satisfying. Mashing some of the canned beans thickens the soup and gives it the body of one that’s been long simmered. Sauteed onions, carrots and celery add depth of flavor and ensure the soup’s homemade feel.

Step: 1

Heat oil in a large, deep saute pan or soup kettle 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.

Step: 2

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.

Per Serving: 561 calories; protein 26.4g; carbohydrates 40.3g; fat 33g; cholesterol 70.9mg; sodium 785.9mg.

The name of “stew” can refer to 2 time a dish and a make dishes method. Stewing makes slowly cooking chunks of meat, raw fruit or beans in a tastefull liquid . It’s same as to braising, but it does have a few notable differences. The meat is chopped into smaller pieces but of being cooked all of it , and the liquid all of it covers the contents in a stew as different to a braise’s halfway full . When meat or raw fruit are cooked using this method, the resulting dish is called stew.

Stew has a perception for being a rib-sticking meal that comfortable you up on a freezing , winter day. It’s true ; a bowl of old menu of beef stew does have warming properties , but stew’s cozy factor goes way beyond protecting you from the chill . It’s all about those soft and chunks of food and vegetables, swimming in a thick, ultra-rich gravy. The way they come together make the ultimate comfort food, no matter the weather.