Italian Sausage, White Bean, Kale, Potato Leek Soup - It's a mouthful!

Summer's here in Chicago! And I"m continuing my trend of soup plus a salad for my weekly meals.

I find that the easiest way to save money and eat healthily is to buy whatever is on sale at the local market (not the supermarket, but actual local market). Usually, they'll have a super discount on items they got really fresh and cheap from a local farmer. In this case, fresh kale for 99 cents a bunch. Can't pass that up!

The 2nd easiest way to shop, if you eat meat, is to buy whatever meat is on sale. This week featured fresh Italian sausages, which looked so plump and delicious, I decided to get it. Usually sausage can be a bit rich for sautes or salads, so I opted to put it in soup.

You'll need:

1 cup of dried white beans (cannellini or great northern white) *soaked over night - if you want to get canned, it's ok too, get 1 can drained

1 package of Italian sausage (about 4 links)
1 head of leeks - chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 large onion - chopped into half inch pieces
4 cloves of garlic - minced
3 medium sized red or yellow skin (not Idaho) potatoes - chopped into 1 inch cubes
2 bunches of kale - wash and tear leaves into 1 inch chunks - discard the stems

hot water - enough to cover everything

olive oil to saute
salt and pepper
oregano and basil
red pepper flakes (optional)

The FIRST thing to do is to soak those beans the night before you make this soup. Or if you don't have time, just used a can of great norther white beans, drained and rinsed. When soaking beans, just pour a cup of dried beans into a bowl that will hold about 3 cups of liquid, since the beans will expand. Rinse to clean the beans, add lots of water to cover the beans by about 1 1/2 inch, and leave out over night. Don't leave it in the fridge, or your beans will take forever to cook. They should be nice and plump and maybe split in the morning. Make sure you keep it covered with water once it expands.

To make the soup, first cut up the Italian sausage into bite size chunks about 1 inch. If you favor smaller bites cause you like eating all classy like, then cut them into half inch chunks. Heat up a pan on medium heat, add a little olive oil to coat the pan, and add the sausage in 2 batches. Make sure they brown evenly (hence 2 batches) on all sides. Pick up with a slotted spoon and place on the side.

You can either cook the onions and leeks in the fat of the sausage, which will give it a great flavor, or if you're watching your cholesterol or fat intake, drain the fat and add olive oil. Once the oil is heated, add the chopped onions and leeks. Saute until fragrant and the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and cook with the onions and leeks until fragrant. Add the potatoes and saute for 1 more minute. Add the kale, and turn off the fire (no need to cook the kale).

Now you can add the sausage back in, along with hot water to cover everything. This will be the broth, so make sure you have just enough water to cover the contents, but not too much, since the veggies will shrink and give off more water. Turn the heat up to medium high, and let the stock come to a simmer. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting, put the lid on, and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.

Come back and check on the beans and potatoes. Add the salt, pepper, and oregano and basil (make sure you add just 1 tsp of salt at a time, and taste to see how salty it is each time). If you like spicy, add the pepper flakes. Cook for another 15 - 20 minutes, checking on the potatoes and beans every 10 minutes. The potatoes should be just tender, and the beans should be soft and starchy (not crunchy, or you'll have issues with digesting them...).

Remove the pot from the fire. If you are storing this in the fridge, fill a sink with cold water, and put the pot in the sink (make sure water isn't too high), and let it cool off quickly in the water. It should take about 40 minutes to cool, and then you can store in the fridge for about a week.

This soup is great for the winter, and you can serve it with crusty bread. I eat mine with some Sriracha sauce ;)

Enjoy!

Chinese Style Braised Pork Shoulder with Mushrooms

With all the working out I've been doing, I've craved more protein this week. I decided to buy some country style pork shoulders and do something Asian with it. I essentially went with a red braise sauce, which is what Chinese dishes to stew meats using soy products. 

Country style pork shoulders is really easy to find at the supermarket, and relatively cheap. We usually make it into smoked bbq here in the US, but since I wanted to Asian, it made for a leaner version of braised Chinese pork belly. 

And because I was making this at midnight when I should have been sleeping, I cooked this whole thing in 45 minutes using a pressure cooker. If you don't have a pressure cooker, just follow all the instructions below up to bringing the pot to a simmer. Just simmer on the lowest setting for about an hour (adding the mushrooms 30 minutes into it), and then reducing the liquids on high with the lid off for about 15 minutes.

I used: 

1 package of 7-8 medium sized boneless pork shoulder steaks (if you want to sub in pork belly, you can as long as they are cubed or in 1 inch slices - whatever meat you use should not be too lean)

1 package of portabello mushrooms, cut into thick slices 

1 thumb sized knob of ginger (skin on), sliced into thin disks

5 stalks of green onions, chopped into 2 inch sections

1/4 cup Chinese sherry (use regular sherry if you don't have any, or even brandy/cognac)

1/4 cup dark soy sauce (low sodium if possible)

1/4 cup oyster sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water (for thickening the sauce)

salt to taste at the end

To start, heat up your pot/pressure cooker and add oil to coat the pan. Add the pork shoulder pieces and brown in the pan without crowding. Make sure you can easily flip the pieces, which would happen when the meat has developed a nice brown crust. 

Remove all the meats once they're browned to the side and reserve. Sautee the mushrooms in the same pot or in a different pot. Remove and reserve. Add the ginger and scallions and sautee in the pan until fragrant. 

Deglaze the pan with the Chinese sherry and use your spatula to get all the tasty brown carmelization off of the bottom. Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar and water. Return the pork into the pot, and place on high flame until the pressure cooker reaches pressure. Cook on high pressure for 15- 18 minutes.

*At this point if you don't have a pressure cooker, then place the lid on and turn the flame on high until the liquid starts to simmer. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and leave the pot for 30 minutes, and then add the sauteed mushrooms and return to cooking with the lid on and low heat. *basically you don't want to overcook the mushrooms.

When the time is up for the pressure cooker. Carefully cool down in the sink with running water to depressurize or let out the pressure following the pot's instructions. Open the pot, add the mushrooms, and return to pressure for 5 minutes.

Carefully open the pressure cooker again. Everything should be pretty tender and there should be more liquid than before you started cooking. This is the same for if you're using a regular pot.

Add the corn starch mixture, and let it simmer in the cooking liquid for 30 seconds. It should start to turn clear and thick. Stir gently. 

At this point, you can break up the meat into smaller chunks to coat them in the thickened sauce. Or if it's pork belly, just leave it alone!

Serve hot over rice with a side of vegetables (I had sauteed cauliflower with brown rice). Enjoy!