As I throroughly enjoy cooking and rarely have trouble coming up with ideas for meals on a regular basis, I find that I am more often stumped in the month of January.  Surely it is partly from spending a LOT of time in the kitchen during November and December baking and cooking Holiday meals for family and friends.  Also, most of us are extra concerned with eating lighter and healthier after consuming all of the heavy, sweet food.  I can say I have finally cleared out most of that and I’m no longer getting creative with leftovers. At the same time, at least in Ohio, we crave warming and comforting food during the winter months. A few of you have inquired aout new recipes on my  blog – and I have been stumped to come up with creative – but favorite recipes that I have shared so far.  My almost 24 year old son has also asked me for new ideas that would be easy for him as a single working person…

So, my inspiration came last week when reading the Toledo Blade newspaper.  There were two recipes that sounded really good –  comforting, healthy and easy!  One is a white bean and fennel stew with italian sausage – and the other is a slow cooker ham and potato soup with rosemary.  I will include the modified recipes for both in case you’d like to try them.  Soups and stews are a great way to cook this time of year.  They can easily be divided and frozen and thawed out quickly for meals over several weeks.  I’ll give you one recipe now – and one next week.

The stew uses fennel, which is a vegetable I love.  I purchased some this past week at the grocery store without having a recipe in mind to use it.  I love it cut up raw as a snack or crudite.  It is wonderful roasted – or in soups – and gives a little bit of a licorice flavor.

I defrosted some italian sausage and homeamde chicken stock and for convenience opened up two cans of cannelini beans and a can of diced tomatoes.  The stew comes together very quickly – and does not require a long simmer for the flavors to blend.

Sweet, mild italian sausage with fennel and onion – a delicious combination.

browned meat and cooked vegetables. Spices added to develop flavor partway through the cooking process. The red pepper adds a nice spiciness to the mild sausage.

Color and contrast always make a dish more appealing to me too.  This one does not dissapoint.  I used a red and green kale as well as fresh spinach to balance the lighter colors of the sausage and beans.  The one can of tomatoes adds a nice red spark of color – and a good acidic taste to the comforting stew. I added a little salt, pepper and a healthy few dashes of red pepper flakes before adding the stock, beans, greens and tomatoes.

a variety of greens added to the stew add great flavor, nutrients and color contrast.

I’m so glad I made this recipe a few days ago – it has filled our stomachs and helped to heal broken hearts over losing our beloved dog of 9 1/2 years.  I hope you will try it and find it just as comforting and delicious.

Italian sausage, white bean and fennel stew

serves 6 - 8 meal portions
Prep time is about 15 minutes
cook time is about 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound spicy italian sausage (or mild and use red pepper flakes to your desired spiciness) casings removed.

One large onion, coarsely chopped

One large fennel bulb (bulb and about 2″ of stems) coarsely chopped

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

4 cups low sodium chicken broth (or use homemade stock)

2 cans (15 oz) cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes – any variety or flavor to preference.  I just used small diced with no additional seasoning.

10 ounces spinach, kale or desired greens, torn into bite size pieces

salt and pepper to taste

 

Instructions

In a large, heavy soup pot, brown the sausage over medium-high heat. Add onion, fennel and garlic and continue to cook until sausage is crumbled and cooked through – about 7 minutes.

Add 3 cups of  broth, about 2/3 of the beans, tomatoes (with juices) and greens.  Stir well to mix.   Cover and bring to a boil.    Combine remaining broth and beans in blender – or in a container suitable to fit a hand blender.  Blend the beans into the broth to make a thick slurry.  Add this to the pot.  Stir into pot to thicken entire mixutre. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer for 15 mintues or up to 45 minutes until ready to serve.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

This recipe is adapted from a recipe found in the Toledo Blade on January 17, 2017.  Article and photo credits Alicia Ross.  Adapted just slightly for personal preferences.