My Italian Soup (White Bean, Sausage, & Spice)

During the visit from that cold guy Jonas - I made a very delicious albeit spicy soup.  It was a bit much for my kids (weaklings) but for myself it was fantabulous.  The husband (who is also a spice weakling) enjoyed it even though he needed to take five minute breaks between sips.

Just kidding - it was more like 2 minute breaks.

Don't let the spice scare you away from this recipe.  You can totally make it less spicy by eliminating or decreasing the amount of red pepper flakes you put in.  I just went a slight bit insane with red pepper because I do like heat!

For this recipe you will need:

1lb Andouille Sausage
2 cans of drained and rinsed white beans
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 cups of crushed plum tomatoes
2 cups chopped fennel bulb - you can do it
1/2 cup of fennel tops chopped
2 cups chopped onion
1 tablespoon of rosemary
6 cups of sodium free chicken stock
1/2 cup vodka
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (I used a tablespoon, obviously if you are not a heat person you should use NONE being that the sausage and fennel can give it a tiny bite)
Salt to taste

Your prep work consists of chopping the veggies.  Chop your fennel bulb into very small pieces.  These do cook down!  Most of my chopped fennel was about half an inch in size.  You also need to chop your onion to your liking.  I used minced garlic so I didn't have to get my knife skills out for it.  I love these ingredients because they are super healthy and super sinus clearing!

After you have everything chopped - and your sausage cut into smaller pieces you load it all into your dutch oven or chef's pot.  I used a chef's pot as you can tell.  The veggies and sausage go in together and cook for about 12 minutes.  You will watch that fennel cook down, the onion become translucent and the sausage will cook through.  The green you see is the fennel not the fennel bulb.  I also put in my rosemary at this time.

The next item I put in was the vodka.  Some people cringe at the thought of alcohol but remember when you are cooking the alcohol cooks out.  However, you get a richer flavor!  It doesn't matter if you use bottom shelf or top shelf potato liquor and if you do not have any vodka to use then go for a dry white wine - same amount 1/2 cup.

Now we are going somewhere!  Your veggies and meat have cooked.  You got it a little drunk on some wine or vodka.  Now you add in your chicken stock, tomato paste, and crushed plum tomatoes, and the heat! Yes this is where you decide if you want red pepper flakes.  Remember this:  fennel has a bit of heat to it already as does the sausage.  Go ahead and do a slight taste test to decide if you want to add to the heat or if it is spicy enough for your palate.  Stir it up and let it boil and then let it simmer for about ten minutes.

I served mine up with some garlic toast!  It was delicious and lasted us the whole winter storm.

Mmmm, good!