Photo by Judith Hausman
Soup or salad? When it’s cold out, choose soup.
I used a local onion, turnip and garlic, but the carrots and tomatoes were not local. If you can your own red beauties, this is a good place to showcase them. I suppose I could have thrown in some diced red bell peppers or a handful of greens, too. Crusty, country bread or cornbread is a good partner for a soup like this. If you have some good, local cheese, put it on the table.
Servings: 6 to 8
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups cannellini or navy beans, canned or home-cooked
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1 medium turnip, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 pound sweet pork sausage or 1/2 pound sweet and 1/2 pound hot, casing removed (optional)
- olive oil (optional)
- 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 2 cups diced tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste
PREPARATION
Soak beans overnight. Drain and rinse. Simmer beans in a large pot with a bay leaf. Chop onion, carrots, turnip and garlic.
Cut sausage into chunks or crumble, and brown in a large pot. Either remove the sausage from the pot and sauté the vegetables in a little olive oil, or sauté the vegetables with the sausage. Simmer vegetables until tender.
Add beans, broth and tomatoes. Add thyme, celery seed and salt and pepper. Simmer for at least 30 minutes.
