White beans and greens is a classic Italian combination, something for which you really don’t need a recipe but occasionally there are some really good ideas out there. The beauty of this dish, is how some of the beans are used to create a velvety sauce and some remain plump and whole. I hope you enjoy it!
Pasta with White Beans and Greens
adapted from “Sausage, Greens, and Beans Pasta” published in Bon Appétit, October 2016
Ingredients
- 8–12 ounces pasta Rustichella d'Abruzzo
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 ounces Italian sausage, about 2 links, removed from casings Bozeman Co-Op fresh Italian sausage
- ¼ cup white wine or vermouth
- 1 15-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed or 2 cups home cooked Rancho Gordo beans
- 2 bunches winter greens (escarole, chard, or kale), stems removed and leaves torn into pieces
- ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- flake salt and freshly ground black pepper Maldon
Instructions
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Set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Heat oil in large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage pieces and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove sausage to a plate and set aside. Off heat, add wine to the pan, return to heat and deglaze (boil and scrape up the sausage drippings with a wooden spoon).
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Add salt to the pasta water and drop the pasta. Cook until al dente, save 1 cup cooking water, and drain pasta.
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Add the beans to the deglazed pan and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Transfer half the beans to the sausage plate. Add the greens to the beans in the pan with about ¼ cup pasta cooking water. Steam and cook until greens are tender (about 10 minutes for kale, less for chard and even less for escarole).
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Add cooked pasta to the beans and greens, add butter, ½ cup Parmesan, and enough reserved pasta cooking water to make a velvety sauce (about ½–¾ cup). Return the reserved sausage and beans to the pan and heat through. Ready to serve! At the table, pass additional parmesan, salt and pepper.
