Tuscan Sausage Spinach And Cannellini Beans Recipes

SKILLET SAUSAGE AND WHITE BEANS WITH SPINACH

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook, stirring, until nicely browned. Add garlic and cook for just another minute or two until garlic is fragrant. Add chicken broth, cannellini beans, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and let it simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes to allow broth to reduce a little.
• Stir in fresh baby spinach and remove from heat. Continue to stir until spinach is wilted. Garnish with fresh ground black pepper and Parmesan. Ladle into bowls and serve with a hunk of crusty bread.

CANNELLINI BEANS AND ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Place the beans in a large bowl with water, using your hand swirl the beans around to rinse them and discard any small stones or beans that look brown. Drain the beans in a colander, rinse and refill the bowl with beans and a generous amount of water (at least 2-3 inches above the beans) and let soak overnight or for at least 6 hours.
• Drain the beans, rinse well and place in a Dutch oven or large pot. Add 7 cups water, 5 of the sage leaves, the tomato halves and bring to a boil uncovered over med-high heat. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered until the beans are tender 1 1/2 - 2 hours, be sure to test for doneness. Drain and reserve the beans, discard the sage and tomato halves.
• In a large sauce pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic, 5 remaining sage leaves, onions, carrots, celery, red pepper flakes and saute for 8-10 minutes until the ingredients are soft and translucent. Stir in the cooked beans and crushed tomatoes. Add the salt, pepper and the chicken stock. Stir together and simmer gently, when all ingredients are combined and warmed, stir in the mascarpone cheese until melted and evenly folded into the tomato and bean mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover saucepan to keep warm and turn off heat until ready to serve.
• Cook the sausage by braising or grilling. Once the sausages are cooked, transfer them to a cutting board and cut into halves or thirds. Transfer the warm beans to individual bowls and arrange sausage pieces on top. Garnish with a sprig of fresh sage.
• * To Serve 4-5, prepare the same recipe with 1 package of Johnsonville Italian sausage.
• * mascarpone cheese is a mild flavored, creamy Italian cheese and can be found in the specialty cheese section of most grocery stores.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE BEAN AND SPINACH SOUP

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a 8-10-quart pot over medium-high heat.
• Add in the sausage meat; cook until browned (about 8-10 minutes) remove the meat to a plate or bowl.
• Add in the onion, carrots, basil and dried chili flakes; saute for about 5-6 minutes adding in the garlic the last couple minutes.
• Add in chicken broth, tomatoes with juice and drained beans; bring to a boil, cover with lid and cook at medium-low for about 30 minutes.
• Add in pasta shells; reduce heat and simmer until the pasta is firm-tender (about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Skim any fat that has accumulated on top of the soup, then stir in about 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese and the fresh spinach; cook until the spinach is just wilted (about 1-2 minutes).
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Pass more Parmesan cheese at the table.