Mix and Match Recipes: Sausage White Bean Soup
Mix and Match Recipes is a series on what we can achieve with our capsule pantry.
Executive summary: This is one of my go-to soups because it’s so simple yet flavorful, and I can throw in whatever I happen to have on hand in my capsule pantry.
Spring officially arrived last month, and we’ve had some lovely 70+ degree days, but rainy season is not over yet. Not that I only have soup when it’s chilly and wet, but that is the most common association. Today I’m going to share a recipe on one of my go-to soups, which — like almost everything else I cook — is based on whatever I have in my capsule pantry (see that post here). It’s a go-to for me because I can whip it together really fast and with whatever I have on hand. The base is cannellini beans (or any close relative like white beans, great northern beans, etc) and sausage (I usually opt for kielbasa because the smoky flavor lends itself well to the beans). From there, I decide what to add based on how much time I have and the state of my pantry. No spinach? Skip it or go for kale instead, or green beans, or whatever makes you feel healthy. No tomato sauce to add flavor to the soup? Swap in pesto. Bread stale enough to break your teeth if you attempt to munch it on the side? Tear it into chunks and soak it in the soup to make a bastardized version of ribollita (Tuscan bread soup).
In this particular instance, I used a dollop of pesto and a sprinkling of Parmesan to give the soup more umami flavor, and leftover sweet Italian sausage from another meal — nothing gets wasted in this soup!
So here’s the rundown of ingredients. I don’t do “true” recipe posts, as I don’t enjoy writing out how many ounces of water to boil, or how small to cut carrots, or how long to stir the pot — I cook by approximation and intuition. All I will say is to start by cooking the carrots and onion since they need more time, add the beans, tomatoes, and sausage later, then save the spinach for the end just before turning off the flames.
Core ingredients:
Beans (cannellini or any kind of white bean)
Sausage (kielbasa or whatever you have lying around)
Onion
Carrots
Tomatoes
Pesto or tomato sauce to up the flavor ante
Optional ingredients:
Spinach or kale (or anything green)
Garlic
Black pepper
Red pepper flakes
Parmesan (I often don’t have any, but it’s nice to add when we do have some at home)
Bread for dipping or ripping into chunks to put in the soup for “ribollita”
Now rain, rain go away; come back another day (in the fall, if you please!)