Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Crock Pot Bean and Sausage Soup

We are all about the comfort foods right now and this soup came about because of a craving for cassoulet. Now, this is by no means a cassoulet, but it's a kissing cousin with its slow cooked beans and sausage.
Crock Pot Bean and Sausage Soup
You could not get much easier than this dinner. It's pretty much a throw everything in the crock pot and let it simmer all day sort of thing, I didn't even bother crisping the bacon before cooking. It smells amazing and is full of wonderful slow cooked flavor.

A few notes on this dish: You could easily skip the kale, but we are always looking for ways to get a dark leafy green in the winter. The only thing I might do differently next time is add the sausage the same time as the kale. It got a pretty soft texture from the long cooking. The soup gets a lot of its flavor from the sausage, but that last hour should be enough time for that to happen.

Crock Pot Bean and Sausage Soup

1 c dried white or yellow beans (we used Rancho Gordo Yellow Indian Woman Beans)
12 oz smoked andouille sausage links, sliced into rounds
2 slices smoked bacon, chopped
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
2 springs fresh thyme
5 c chicken broth or if you are using a good hearty stock a mix of stock and water
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thin
2 bay leaves
2 c frozen pearl onions
4 oz chopped kale
salt and pepper

Rinse the beans. Put everything except the kale in the crock pot. Set to high and let cook for about 4 hours. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add the kale. Let cook about another hour until the beans are nice and tender.  Serve with a good crusty bread.

Makes 4 - 5 servings.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

8 comments:

Nikki @ NikSnacks said...

You know, I've never ordered beans from Rancho Gordo. The sheer plethora of available legumes makes my head spin. But your soup looks so delicious. A great way to use up the collard greens in my freezer.

grace said...

two things that always make a soup automatically delicious are beans and sausage. this is outstanding. :)

Amy said...

Definitely reminiscent of cassoulet. Sounds fantastic for a cold winter day.

Lori said...

I have to order some of those beans. They have such interesting varieties!

ethel mertz said...

My husband made this soup today, and it is hands down the best soup we've had in many, many years! We can't wait to share it with family and friends! Delicious!

Alex Staff said...

Yeah, it is perfect for today’s season. But what I like best about this dish is its color. The color itself indicates how delicious it is, and the sausage makes it more tempting. I can finish two or 3 without hurting my diet…after all, I’ll only be doing it for a day.=)

Manisha said...

I don't have frozen pearl onions. I want to add some fresh red onion (I have lots from the CSA). Do you think I should cut in big chunks and add at the beginning? I'm a big fan of your soups. I'm making the winter veggie barley soup for dinner right now!

Jenn @leftoverqueen said...

I really want to make cassoulet this winter. But this soup looks great in its own right!

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