Saturday, November 08, 2008

Saturday Soups -- # 2 Fall 2008

I will try to remember this fall, as I post soup recipes, that I need to be mindful of rotating the soup type. Last week was a vegetable soup (and an orange one at that!). So this week, I will feature a meat based soup.

I hear tell that some places on the North American continent are having snow. Lucky. This hearty soup would go great on a snowy evening. And it has enough "other stuff" in it, should you not fancy meat too much. Oh, and it is mmm mmm good.


SAUSAGE & BEAN FLORENTINE SOUP
Serves 12


¾ lb. loose sweet Italian sausage
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 10 oz. packages chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 large can chicken broth (approx. 49 oz.)
1 15 or 16 oz. can Cannellini Beans
1 15 or 16 oz. can Light Red Kidney Beans
1 15 or 16 oz. can Dark Red Kidney Beans
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
Salt to taste, if you wish

1) Brown sausage in large stockpot, breaking into fine pieces. Sausage should be completely cooked through. Drain all but one Tbsp. fat off sausage. Add garlic and onion to pot and sauté 6 minutes.

2) Add thawed, drained spinach to pot and sauté 2 minutes. Add chicken broth, dried basil and pepper flakes to pot and simmer 10 minutes.

3) After thoroughly draining and rinsing each of the cans of beans, add beans to soup and remove from heat.

Garnish with parmesan cheese, if desired.
ENJOY!

7 comments:

Ruth said...

Wow, this one looks super easy and yummy, like an after work special.

Beth said...

That sounds like supper! I can't wait to try it.

NCmountainwoman said...

Now, why have I been sorting and soaking beans to make soup? I never occurred to me to use canned beans. I make a similar soup but add tomatoes and haven't used spinach. I'll make it a florentine next time. It is one hearty soup.

Mary said...

Ooo, a soup with an Italian touch and BEANS! Sounds wonderful! My Italian husband would like this one.

I haven't been thinking "soup" yet. It's still in the 70s daytime.

Thanks, Donna.

JeanMac said...

Sounds delicious - our snow has left but it's on the schedule for later today! Very timely.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Oooh! Ths sound so good and I have all the ingredients too! Do you suppose I could substitute fresh spinach for the frozen?

Beverly said...

Your recipes do indeed sound good. I need to send these to my son. He and his wife both cook, and they particularly like soups during the winter.

I went down, as usual, to watch the game with the faithful in Sarasota. Because it was an afternoon game, I left shortly after the half because I didn't want to be driving at night, and I listened to the updates on the radio.

I got home when there were about five minutes left in the game. I couldn't bear to watch them lose. I turned away and then checked back. It was not a good evening.