White bean and escarole soup with sausage

From Josh Andrews

•        1 lb dried great northern beans (or substitute 3 -4 cans of beans)
•        1 lb Italian sausage
•        1 head escarole, chopped up into spoon size pieces
•        3-4 cloves garlic finely chopped
•        A few dashes of dried red pepper flakes to desired taste
•        5 or 6 plum tomatoes, diced
•        2 cups white wine
•        2 quarts low sodium chicken stock
•        4 tablespoons unsalted butter
•        Salt and pepper to taste

1.     Soak beans overnight, cook until desired tenderness, remove from heat and set aside.

2.     Remove sausage from casing and brown over medium high heat, chopping the sausage into little bits with a wooden spoon.

3.     When sausage is browned, add garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook for 2 minutes.

4.     Add escarole, stir in and cook 2 min or until escarole starts to wilt and becomes part of the sausage mix.

5.     Add chicken stock and white wine, bring to a nice simmer.

6.     Add cooked (or canned) beans and a half a stick of butter.  Stir into soup.

7.     Add diced tomatoes. Let soup simmer another 10 – 15 minutes.

8.     Salt and pepper to taste.

9.     Serve with grated parmesan cheese sprinkled on top of each bowlful, and a nice sourdough bread on the side.

Notes: I am pretty loose on the measurements with this soup.  Add a little more of the ingredients you prefer – for me, that’s the wine, the garlic and red pepper flakes, and the butter.  Also, I usually just use one qt of chicken stock and fill make up the difference with water. It’s even better the next day, so make sure you have leftovers.