Cannellini Beans with Sausage, Sage and Tomato
Course: DinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy4
servings12
minutes45
minutesI love this recipe. It is easy to make and can be made a couple days ahead of time. It is warming on cold night and has a great balance of meat, beans and tomato with the wonderful additions of sage and garlic. My kids love this with warm crusty bread. Sometimes I serve this with polenta or cous cous if my crew is starved. I like to serve it with a green vegetable and big mixed green salad. This is my idea of Italian comfort food. This recipe is out of the Wall Street Journal. I find they have wonderful recipes in the Saturday Journal. *****As far as the beans go, it is well worth starting with dried beans. I get mine from Rancho Gordo as I am a huge fan of all their beans and legumes. I soak them overnight but sometimes I soak them all day as I get up at 5 am, the beans need to soak at least 6-8 hours. I’ll soak at 5:15am and by 1 pm, I can boil them for an hour and allow to cool in their liquid on the stove. I can then prepare the meal or start it the next day.
Beans
1 lb Ranch Gordo cannellini beans
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 sprigs of fresh sage or rosemary
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
- The Dish
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 sweet Italian sausages
2 cloves garlic, skins removed and crushed
4 sage leaves
1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes
Kosher salt and Freshly ground pepper
Italian Parsley, fresh chopped for garnish
Directions
- Add the cannellini beans to a large pot and cover with cold water. Allow to sit at least 6-8 hours or preferably overnight. Transfer beans to a sieve and dump water out, rinse beans and then return to pot. Cover with cold water, a few sprigs of sage or rosemary and the garlic.
- Bring pot to boil and skim off any foam that rises to the top. Pour a generous amount of oil and reduce heat to simmer, simmer for 50 minutes. Stir in salt and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Cool beans in their own liquid. If not using, beans should be stored in an air tight container for up to 5 days or freeze for 3 months.
- The Dish
- Preheat oven to 375. Heat a large oven proof saute pan over medium high heat and coat with oil. Slice each sausage longwise and remove all the ground meat to the pan. Discard casings. Add the garlic and sage and cook till sausage is browned. Add the tomatoes and stir and reduce heat to medium low. Cook until sauce is thick and glossy about 15 minutes.
- Add 4 cups of the prepared beans, stir in evenly. Season with large pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper. Transfer pan to oven and continue to cook for 30 minutes. Edges should be crusty and browned. Drizzle surface with oil just before serving. Eat hot with warm bread. This can be made up to 4 days ahead in the refrigerator or frozen for 3 months.
