Greens, beans and sausage soup
This soup sums up my whole soup-making philosophy. It starts with a thoroughly cooked soffritto, which is a pedestrian but powerful mix of vegetables that provides the backbone of the dish. Your soup would be watery and thin-tasting without it. Once that step is done, I add all my other favourite things: a pork product, beans, greens, a couple of Parm rinds that I’ve been hoarding in my freezer, and plenty of salt. To make this vegetarian, omit the sausage (obviously!) and the Parm (it contains animal rennet), and add an extra 2 tablespoons olive oil when cooking the soffritto.
This recipe is extracted from ‘That Sounds So Good’ by Carla Lalli Music (Hardie Grant).
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 8
Ingredients
Substitute
Preparation
Method
Step 1
Scrub the carrots. Coarsely chop the carrots, celery, onion and garlic, then process in a food processor until very finely chopped. Remove the casings from the sausages, if using links.
Step 2
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 6 litre (200 fl oz) stockpot or enamelled castiron casserole pot over medium–high, then add the sausage meat. Cook, using a wooden spoon to break it up into 2.5 cm (1 in) pieces, until golden brown on the underside, 3 minutes. Toss and cook until the sausage is just cooked through, 2 minutes more. Use a slotted spoon to transfer it to a plate and set aside (returning the sausage to the soup towards the end of cooking will keep it from getting dry and mealy during a long time spent simmering).
Step 3
Add the remaining oil to the pot, then stir in the chopped vegetables. Season generously with salt and pepper, stirring to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to throw off some of their liquid, 2–3 minutes, then partially cover the pot, reduce the heat to medium– low and continue to sweat the soffritto, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are completely tender but have not taken on any colour, 16–18 minutes. The volume of the vegetables should reduce by about.
