Make: White Bean & Sausage Stew

The rains are here, it's time for soup! White Bean & Sausage Stew is hearty, scrumptious, and inexpensive.

There are five main ingredients, only two of which aren't pantry items (doesn't get much simpler than that). It checks off the two most common dietary restrictions, gluten-free and dairy-free. It's full of leafy greens—an entire bunch of kale, to be exact. On top of all this, it costs under $15 to make a large pot that feeds 6+ adults. You get the point, this one-pot dinner is a big winner; I get compliments every time I serve it. Merci to Joceline for sharing the recipe with me.

INGREDIENTS

Olive or coconut oil

5-6 fresh sausages, or 1.5 pounds of bulk sausage meat. If possible, buy the sausage meat in bulk rather than links, it's a pain to remove the casings. Sprouts Farmers Market makes their sausages in-house and sells the meat in bulk. I use sweet Italian sausage meat. The butcher will take care of you and prepare a nice little bundle of brown paper wrapped meat.

2, 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes (or 1, 28-oz. can)

2 or 3, 15-ounce cans white beans (Great Northern or Cannellini)

4 cups chicken stock

Several cups chopped spinach or kale

Fresh rosemary, chopped

Pepper

Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top of the soup, warm French bread, and butter.

DIRECTIONS

1. Sauté diced onions in oil until soft.

2. If using links, cut sausage casing vertically and remove casing completely. Add meat to pot and break apart with wooden spoon until it is the consistency of ground beef when cooked.

3. When the sausage is cooked through, add EVERYTHING BUT THE GREENS and simmer for at least an hour. It will become silky smooth.

4. Add the greens a few minutes before serving, so they don't wilt and lose their oomph. They will soften quickly as you fold them into the soup with a wooden spoon.

Bon Appétit!

If you make the soup, please take a picture and post it on Facebook or Instagram with a link to this article. Merci.

PRICE BREAKDOWN:

Sausage Meat: $7.08

Diced Organic Tomatoes: $1.99

Canned Beans: $2.67

Organic Kale: $1.79

Onion: 50¢

This totals $14.03. These are not sale prices, and we even have some organic in there. Add the minimal cost of the other ingredients, and let's call it a $15 pot of filling, flavorful stew that will feed 6 adults. Add the cost of a baguette, butter, and parmesan, and it's a $20 dinner for 6.

NOTES:

• Don't buy rosemary, it's commonly used in Bay Area landscaping as a bush, so it's all around us. If you don't have any, peek at your neighbor's yard and ask if you can snip some. If you aren't sure if a shrub is rosemary, rub your hand on it and smell. The rosemary scent is strong and unmistakable. Quickly remove the green herb leaves from the branch by running your pinched fingers down the branch.
• I used dried beans. This takes planning ahead: you have to soak them for 24 hours and then boil them for one hour before using. I did the math, this extra work only saved me about $1. Mental note: not worth the trouble. Therefore, I factored in the cost of canned beans.
• I don't add salt to the soup, I find that the sausage and chicken stock give it the perfect amount of saltiness.