Tuscan Sausage and Bean Soup

Chicagoland Chef du Jour's Note:

I love soup! This is very tasty and a real hearty treat. Serve with a baked tomato, green salad and crusty bread. Oh, and don't forget a nice glass of red vino. Recipe from DH's cuz MC!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 lb hot Italian sausage, substitute mild
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1 stalk celery, chopped fine
• 1 carrot, chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon rosemary, fresh chopped or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups great northern beans, canned, rinsed, approximately (3)
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 -4 cups low sodium chicken broth, divided

Directions:

1. In a soup pot, brown sausage until no longer pink.
2. Break up into small pieces while cooking.
3. Drain off excess oil. Return to pot.
4. In a food processor, chop onion, celery, carrot, rosemary, and garlic until fine; add to the soup pot.
5. In same food processor, puree 2 cups Great Northern beans with 1 cup chicken broth; add to the pot.
6. Combine remaining ingredients.
7. Bring to boil; lower heat and simmer for 45 to 60 minutes or until desired consistency.
8. Serve with your favorite sides and red wine.
9. Enjoy.
10. UPDATE: 10/09 I used 2 cans of beans instead of 3 cans, and 3 cups chicken stock; worked out well.

Reviews

[Spice Jar]

This is absolutely delicious. I did not need to add any additional seasoning. I did add a bag of fresh spinach since I had it laying around and will do so in the future. I am writing this review the night before cooking this for the second time. Yum!

[jonesies]

This soup is fabulous. I used 6 hot sausage links (took the casings off), 2 pureed cans of kidney beans (running short on northern) and one can of northern. INstead of pureeing with the chicken broth, I used the juices of the beans. (Saved me a can of broth). Everything else, as directed. Oh yeah, I also added a handful of frozen spinach. I can't wait till hubs gets home...he is gonna flip over this soup. Thanks so much! Update: Hubby and DD love this soup and I have been told several times to make sure there's more of this soup coming up for the winter months. :-) Thanks for a keeper!

[DreamoBway]

This is really, really great. I believe Rachel Ray would call it a "stoup" - thicker than soup but thinner than stew. I loved the consistency with the slight creaminess from the pureed beans. I used 5 sweet Italian turkey sausage links (about 1.25 pounds of meat), 3 15 ounce cans of beans (about 5 cups of beans), and 4 cups of broth. I also tossed in 1/8 teaspoon of crushed red pepper as well as 1/2 cup of chopped frozen spinach that I had thawed and squeezed. This was the perfect meal after raking leaves all morning. Thank you for posting! Reviewed for My-3-Chefs - November '08.