White beans and greens is a classic Italian combination, something for which you really don’t need a recipe but hopefully this one will get you going. For the greens use something hearty like broccolini/brocolette, chard, kale, or broccoli rabe if you like the bitter taste. The pasta is optional if you use the beans and the beans are optional if you use pasta but all together is really great. Enjoy.
Italian Sausage, White Beans & Greens
adapted from “Sausage, Greens, and Beans Pasta” published in Bon Appétit, October 2016
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces Italian sausage, about 2 links, removed from casings Bozeman Co-Op Sweet Italian or Pyro
- ¼ cup white wine or vermouth
- 8–12 ounces dried pasta, optional Rustichella d'Abruzzo
- 2–4 cups cooked white beans, optional or one or two 15-ounce cans, drained and rinsed
- 1 or 2 bunches sturdy winter greens (broccolini, brocolette, chard, or kale), stems removed and leaves torn into pieces
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ fresh lemon for a spritz of juice
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan
- Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
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Set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta, if using. Heat oil in large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Brown the sausage then transfer to a plate. Deglaze pan with wine/vermouth.
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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).
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Add the cooked pasta and reserved sausage/beans to the greens and beans. Add butter, a spritz of fresh lemon juice, and enough reserved pasta cooking water to make a sauce. Simmer a few minutes to develop a velvety sauce and thoroughly cook the sausage.
Add the Parmesan off heat just before serving.
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At the table, have available additional parmesan, really good olive oil for an extra drizzle, and of course flake salt, red pepper flakes, and a grinder full of black pepper.
