Its a soup, no, a stew, whatever it is its warm, filling and cheap (Meat)

Name: nevikrose

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Product:	Meat
Date:	01.03.08 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, hot, filling and versatile, will stretch over several days if you keep topping up with tomato

Disadvantages: I cant think of any, its too versatile

I have a bit of an addiction to hearty, filling soups. Especially at this time of year and with this abysmal weather we've been having on the coast. A few years ago I decided to make Tuscan sausage and bean soup, but was a tad too lazy to find a recipe, and made it from scratch and memory.

What I actually ended up with was an extremely versatile and stretchable base recipe that can be adapted in a million ways all depending on what you have in the cupboards. It isn't really a soup, depending on how hearty you make it, it is somewhere between a soup, a stew and a casserole. If you serve it over rice, it is something entirely different. I don't tend to go shopping for this dish, I make sure I always have a few sausages in the freezer and a can of cannellini beans and tomatoes in the cupboard and use whatever else I have on hand.

I have found that this recipe is most tasty when it is a little spicy, due to the tomato base, I tend to use chilli flakes, rather than powder, but American style hot sauce (or Tabasco) also adds a good kick.

I have found it is not important to measure this out, it is a very versatile recipe and you can use more or less veggies, or more liquid depending on your taste. You can always add more tomatoes if you want it to stretch further.

You will need, or can use.


<...***Veggies***...>

Leeks
Onions, red works best, but white is ok (essential)
Red pepper
Garlic (essential)
Courgette (This tends to make it a bit too much like ratatouille, but if you have it in fridge why not, for the soup I cut it into small chunks, not slices)

Can(s) of good quality chopped tomatoes (essential)

<...***Meat***...>

You can omit this if you are vegetarian, but I prefer not to.
You will need three or four very good quality sausages. I like ones that have red wine in them, as that adds a good flavour to the soup. The Sainsbury taste the difference range do a couple of great flavours for this recipe, or if in doubt use ones with leek in them.
I have never made this with vegetarian sausages, I don't know if it would work because of the method.

<...***Pulses and extras***...>

Can of cannellini beans (essential)
Can of mixed bean salad
Frozen cut green beans
Frozen or canned sweetcorn
Handful of dried green/continental lentils

<...***Seasonings***...>

Hotsauce or chilli flakes
Black pepper
A chicken (or vegetable) stock cube
fresh thyme (essential)



<...***STEP ONE***...>
Prepare all your vegetables buy cutting them up into chunks or slices, I find it best to have this done in advance

Prepare the sausages, by making meatballs from the sausage meat. Each sausage will make three-four balls, just squeeze the meat out of the sausage casing and roll slightly between your palms. - this is why I am unsure about vegetarian sausages, I don't know if they will cope with this.

<...***STEP TWO***...>

In a heavy bottomed casserole dish, fry up your starting veggies, leeks, onions etc. when they are starting to cook, even get a little colour, transfer them out of the pan, and use the same oil to fry up the meatballs. Do this gently so as not to break up the meat, if the pan isn't big enough to hold them all, do it in two stages.


<...***STEP THREE***...>

When the veggies and sausage is ready, pile them back into the pan and add the tomatoes and about the same amount of liquid using the stock cube. If you need more liquid, just use water, I find I tend to add a little liquid at a time, throughout the cooking process as it reduces quite quickly.

<...***STEP FOUR***...>

Bring the pot to the boil
When it is boiling add the seasonings, and any of the extras, including the beans. Taste at this point to check the process.

Now leave to simmer away until you are ready to eat. I have found this soup is especially good if you leave it until the next day.

Serve in big bowls with hot garlic bread!

Summary: I love this dish, and make it at least once a week.