Navy bean & sausage soup
5 Servings
Ingredients
| Quantity | Ingredient | |
|---|---|---|
| ½ | pounds | Dried navy beans |
| 4 | tablespoons | Olive oil |
| 1 | Onion, chopped | |
| 2 | Garlic cloves, chopped | |
| 3 | Ribs celery, diced | |
| 1 | Turnip, diced | |
| 1 | small | Imported bay leaf and 5 sprigs fresh |
| Parsley, tied together with kitchen twine | ||
| ¼ | teaspoon | Ground allspice |
| ¼ | teaspoon | Crushed red pepper flakes |
| 6 | cups | Chicken broth |
| 4 | Fresh sausages (mild Italian) | |
| Salt | ||
| Freshly ground black pepper | ||
Directions
Soak the navy beans overnight in plenty of cold water; the next day drain the beans and rinse them under cool water. Set aside. Place the oil and onion in a soup kettle, set over low heat and cook slowly until the onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium, add the garlic and celery and stir-cook for 1 minute. Drop in the bay leaf and parsley bundle. Stir in the allspice, red pepper flakes, broth, and navy beans. Bring the soup base to a boil, skimming it as necessary; boil 3 minutes. Cover and simmer for 1½ hours, or until the beans are quite tender. Discard the parsley-bay leaf bundle. (The soup may be prepared in advance to this point.) To finish the soup, grill the sausages under the broiler or pan-fry them for about 20 minutes, letting them cook for 10 minutes on each side. Slice the sausage into ⅓-inch disks. Add the sausage rounds to the soup and let simmer for 5 minutes longer to blend the flavors.
Season with salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste. Ladle the soup into warm bowls and serve piping hot.
Makes 5 servings.
[WASHINGTON POST JAN 11, 1989] Posted by Fred Peters.