Rain Stops Play - Fennel & Cannellini Bean Soup with Sausage Sandwiches

Back from my Thai adventures and far from being sunny, Tucson has greeted me with a rain-dreary, chilly day! Grandsons soccer games canceled and with soup on my mind, I invited boys and their parents to lunch. This makes four - six hearty servings of soup. If you are making sandwiches for more than four people, add extra sausages. If you are omitting the sandwiches and adding sausages to the soup, four is ample number.

After pantry and fridge diving I came up with ingredients for the following chilly day lunch. Under an hour from idea to table.

Fennel & Cannellini Bean Soup with Italian Sausage Sandwiches - four substantial servings

For the Sandwiches you'll need a crusty baguette or individual rolls - sandwich is an optional item but I think the soup benefits from the juices gleaned from roasting the sausages along with the peppers and tomatoes. If you don't want to serve with sandwiches, slice the roasted sausages and add to the soup once it has been pureed. Omit the peppers and spaghetti sauce from the ingredient list. Serve the soup as a stand-alone meal with crusty bread and leafy green salad.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 Hot Jennie O Italian Turkey sausages
• 12 ozs of plump cherry tomatoes halved
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil.
  
• Tablespoon of thinly sliced garlic
• 2 sweet peppers - I used orange ones - sliced lengthwise into 1/2 inch strips
  
• A total of two (generous) cups of thinly sliced fennel bulb (1 large, two small)
  
• A total of 1/2 (generous) cup thinly sliced shallot (1 very large, 4 medium)
  
• 1 15.5 oz can Cannellini beans rinsed and drained
• 32 oz box of good quality chicken stock
• 1/2 cup prepared spaghetti or pizza sauce
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes - optional
  
• sea salt*
• freshly ground black pepper

*Regular, ionized salt simply won't work - too salty! My all time favorite sea salt is Maldon.

METHOD

• Pre-heat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

• Prick sausages all over with a fork. Put on the baking sheet.

• Put tomatoes and peppers on the same baking sheet but keep them separate.

• Toss the slivered garlic over the tomatoes, drizzle 1 tablespoon of then olive oil over the tomatoes and peppers. Scatter sea salt & black pepper to taste over the tomatoes and peppers.

• Roast for 30 minutes.

• While sausages and veggies are roasting add remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to large saute pan - heat gently and saute the shallots for about five minutes or until soft. Add the fennel, turn up the heat , mix well with shallots and continue cooking for about 15 minutes or until fennel is tender when pierced with a fork. Do not brown.
  
• Add beans to fennel mixture, mix lightly.
• Add red pepper flakes to bean mixture.
  
• Remove tray from oven. Set aside sausages and peppers. Scrape tomatoes and all accumulated juices into the pan with the fennel etc. Mix lightly.
• Add the chicken stock and simmer gently for 10 minutes to allow flavors to blend. NOTE: I have a large 12" circumference , 2.5 " depth saute pan - with anything smaller you'll have to transfer everything to a larger soup pot at this stage.
• Using a hand held immersion blender carefully puree the mixture to a rich cream consistency or transfer to a blender in batches to puree.
  
• Check seasoning - add salt and pepper if needed. Garnish with fennel fronds to serve.

SANDWICHES

Turn off the oven when you take out the baking tray and pop the baguette or rolls into the oven to warm. Split them, "butter" with the pizza or spaghetti sauce. Split the sausages - put them into the bread, fill with roasted peppers.