Sausage Pasta Stew
Happy New Year! New years mean new plans, new resolutions and plenty of new recipes. This is the time of year I start with a clean slate and think about what I want to do and eat over the next few months. A lot of it depends on the seasons and what fresh produce is available. But it’s also about how I feel. See, for me, cooking has a ton to do with how I’m feeling and what the weather is. I love grilling and making salads when it’s warm and then hunkering down with rich casseroles and hearty stews when it’s cold. And boy has it been cold!
Since the beginning of December it’s been really, really cold! Okay, I know a lot of you have been dealing with temperatures below freezing but the temps have been in the high 40’s here and that’s cold for Southern California. Not to mention all the rain we got. California went from severe drought conditions to flooding because we got so much rain. Even the snow is at 150%. So, when it’s that cold, all I want to eat are hearty stews that warm me up from the inside out. Stews that have pasta or beans or dumplings or any kind of meat I can get my hands on. I don’t care if it’s meatballs or pork, clams or lamb, as long as it’s got a hearty protein, I’m all in! And if it has more than one of these options, even better.
Soups and stews are good for so many things when it’s cold. They keep you warm, most recipes make enough to serve several with leftovers and (my favorite) the steaming broth feels amazing going down your throat. And since it’s usually made with chicken stock, that helps you stay healthy (which we all know is so necessary right now because of cold and flu season as well as those nasty little Covid variants that keep rearing their ugly heads). While I love soup when I’m under the weather, I’ll eat them whenever the temperature drops.
While most soups and stews are made on the stove top left to simmer and develop flavor for hours, they can also be made in the slow cooker. I love making soup on the stove when I know I’m going to be home all day. It’s so much fun to watch it simmer over a low flame and see those flavors combine and develop into something spectacular. But with two boys involved in various after school activities, I spend a lot of my afternoons as taxi driver which means I can’t leave things simmering on the stove. It’s on days like those that I use my slow cooker.
The slow cooker is one of my favorite kitchen tools. All you need is a little preparation and you can have a wonderful dinner. But the slow cooker isn’t limited to short ribs and pork loin. Soups, stews, pastas and even desserts can all be prepared in the slow cooker! It’s one of the most important tools in my kitchen. I love that I can just toss all the ingredients in there, turn it on and be done. I know I said there’s a little prep, but that’s only the chopping and measuring since everything goes in the slow cooker at the same time. I love that I can set the timer for anywhere from 3 – 10 hours (sometimes longer) and go about my day. By the time dinner is ready the house smells amazing, I’ve gotten a ton of work done and there’s a wonderful, flavorful meal on the table.
So, why is making soup in the slow cooker better than making it on the stove? They both simmer for hours and depending on the soup, they both require the same amount of ingredients. It’s the fact that I can walk away. I can run errands, take the boys to their various activities and not worry about the house burning down while I’m gone. It’s awesome, and at the end of the day I get a toasty, flavorful meal that makes my whole body smile. And times being what they are, that’s an absolute necessity!
Ingredients
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed
- 6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together with a piece of kitchen twine
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage links
- 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup ditalini pasta
Instructions
- Sprinkle onions over the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Top with carrots, garlic, beans, thyme bundle and sausage.
- Mix tomatoes and broth with 3 cups of water in a separate bowl and pour over the sausage.
- Cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours.
- Discard the bundle of thyme. Transfer sausage links to a cutting board and let rest. Stir the pasta into the stew and continue to cook until the pasta is cooked through, about 20 minutes.
- Cut the sausage into 1-inch pieces and add them back to the soup. Ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese and serve with some nice crusty bread.
