00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Italian Sausage Beans and Greens.
00:09That's right, beans and greens is my favorite Italian recipe that does not involve pasta.
00:15And what I'm about to share is my favorite version of beans and greens.
00:19So basically this recipe just isn't one of my favorites, it's one of my favorite favorites.
00:24And to get started, we'll transfer a couple mild Italian sausages into a pan,
00:28set over medium-high heat, in which we've drizzled just a touch of olive oil.
00:34And before these start cooking, we're going to do something we almost never do,
00:38which is take a knife and give these the old polka-poka,
00:42which is going to allow some of the fat and juices to leak out into the pan,
00:46which is going to make the other ingredients we cook in this pan even more flavorful.
00:50And what we'll do is cook these sausage for about five or six minutes per side,
00:54or until we get some nice browning on the surface,
00:56as well as our sausage is going to be pretty much cooked through.
01:00And by the way, once these get sizzling,
01:02feel free to reduce the heat down to medium if you want,
01:05so the pan doesn't get too, too hot.
01:07And what we'll do once those sausage are cooked on both sides,
01:10is remove them to a plate,
01:12where we will allow them to cool to room temp,
01:14before we pop them in the fridge until we need them.
01:16And then we'll go ahead and transfer a diced onion into what is now a very flavorful pan,
01:22along with a nice big pinch of salt.
01:24And over medium-high heat, we will cook these during,
01:27until not only do they start to turn translucent,
01:30but until they start to take out some color,
01:32and turn a little bit golden brown,
01:35or even dark brown in some spots.
01:36And yes, some of the color the onions are picking up
01:39is actually some of that sausage juice that's caramelized onto the bottom of the pan,
01:44that the moisture in the onions have deglazed,
01:46which again is one of the reasons we poked them.
01:49But anyway, once our onions are looking a little something like this,
01:53we will go ahead and season this up with some freshly ground black pepper,
01:57a nice big pinch of red chili flakes,
01:58some dried oregano,
02:01and then three or four cloves of minced garlic.
02:04And we will stir all this together,
02:06and then decide if we need some more olive oil,
02:09which we almost always do.
02:11Okay, a good amount of olive oil is key to this dish,
02:14but the reason we don't add a lot at the beginning
02:16is because you're never quite sure how much fat is going to come out of the sausage,
02:20which for me wasn't a lot.
02:21So I went ahead and drizzled some in,
02:24and we'll continue to cook this stirring for about 30 seconds to a minute.
02:27And once that's been accomplished,
02:29we will carefully transfer in four cups of chicken broth,
02:32and we'll want to raise our heat to high,
02:34since we want this to come up to a boil.
02:37And we'll give that a quick stir,
02:39just for fun mostly.
02:41And once our cooking liquids are bubbling enthusiastically,
02:44we will transfer in two cans of beans,
02:47which I've drained but not rinsed.
02:49And I'm using great northern beans,
02:51but literally any bean you like will work.
02:54So you decide.
02:55I mean, you guys are after all the Draymond greens,
02:58of which beans go with the greens.
03:01But no matter which you use,
03:03once we stir those in,
03:04we'll reduce our heat to medium high,
03:06and we will let this cook and simmer and reduce for about 15 minutes,
03:10which is the perfect amount of time
03:12to prep our greens and slice our sausage.
03:15And while any braising green will work,
03:18for me a nice big head of escrow is the best choice.
03:20And what we'll do is trim a little bit off the bottom,
03:24and then we'll start slicing every half inch or so.
03:27And if you have a little bit of the core at the bottom, that's fine.
03:29We'll just cut that in a couple pieces.
03:32And then what we'll do once the leaves have been cut into nice thick ribbons,
03:35is sort of turn a handful at a time,
03:37and slice the other way so that we get some nice spoonable size pieces.
03:43Oh, and pro tip here,
03:44do not start chopping until your other hand's out of the way,
03:48unless, of course, you want a trip to the ER to be part of your day.
03:52And once our escrow has been cut up as shown,
03:54we'll go ahead and transfer that into a bowl,
03:57and we will wash it thoroughly with some nice fresh cold water,
04:00and then drain it and rinse it thoroughly.
04:02And then we'll simply let it sit in our strainer until it's ready to use,
04:07at which point we can go ahead and grab our sausage from earlier,
04:10and proceed to slice that up,
04:12which I'm going to do in about quarter inch slices,
04:14which I think is ideal.
04:16But again, you cut those how you want.
04:18Although when you do decide on a size,
04:20try to stick with it,
04:22so the pieces are nice and consistent.
04:25And once those have been cut,
04:26we'll go ahead and transfer those into our brothy bean mixture,
04:30which, as you know, has been cooking for about 15 minutes now.
04:33And as you can see, it's definitely reduced down a bit.
04:36And what we'll do is stir that sausage in,
04:38and reduce our heat to medium.
04:40And we will let that simmer stirring occasionally,
04:42for about 10 minutes.
04:45Oh, and if you want, when you go to stir this,
04:46you can always smash a few of the beans against the bottom of the pan,
04:50which is going to produce a little thicker,
04:52and a little creamier texture.
04:54So personally, I do like to bash up a bunch of the beans.
04:58But either way, once that's cooked for about 10 minutes,
05:01we will raise our heat back up to high,
05:04to bring this up to a more enthusiastic simmer,
05:06at which point we'll transfer in our greens,
05:09and we'll take some tongs and settle those down.
05:11And once that escarole has slumped and softened,
05:15we will simply cook this stirring for a few minutes,
05:18until we decide it's ready.
05:20And the beautiful thing about escarole,
05:23is you don't even have to cook it.
05:25Okay, it really is delicious eaten raw.
05:26So if you only want to cook this for a minute or two,
05:29it's going to be great.
05:31But if you prefer your greens a little more on the tender side,
05:34then I'd probably cook this for more like 5 to 7 minutes.
05:37And if you've never made this before,
05:39simply keep tasting,
05:40until you're happy with the texture.
05:43And once we feel like we're getting close,
05:45and we're happy with the texture,
05:46we can reduce our heat to medium low.
05:49Oh, and speaking of tasting,
05:50we definitely need to check for salt,
05:51since depending on how salty your sausage was,
05:55and your chicken broth was,
05:56you may not need any.
05:58Or like me, you might decide it needs a nice big pinch.
06:01So I went ahead and stirred that in.
06:03And as soon as that's tasting good to you,
06:05and your greens are cooked to the perfect doneness,
06:08we will turn off the heat and serve that up.
06:11And in real life, just go ahead and garnish and eat.
06:13Okay, I have to take a spoon,
06:15and tease some of the sausage up to the surface.
06:18Since as you well know,
06:19I have to take some contractually obligated pictures,
06:22but whether you decide to expose your sausage or not,
06:25we will garnish with some freshly chopped Italian parsley,
06:29as well as some freshly grated lemon zest,
06:32which I really do think is key here.
06:34We will also sprinkle over some more chili flakes,
06:37before we finish up with a nice drizzle
06:39of extra virgin olive oil.
06:41And that's it,
06:42our Italian sausage beans and greens
06:44is ready to enjoy.
06:47And I'm going to show you how to do that properly
06:48in a few moments,
06:50but at this point,
06:50I had to grab a spoon and dig in,
06:52because it just looked and smelled so good.
06:55And that, my friends,
06:56to me,
06:56is the epitome
06:57of simple rustic Italian comfort food.
07:01Right, this is just so satisfying and delicious.
07:04That savory sausage and earthy beans,
07:07and that bittersweet escarole,
07:09which again is just the perfect choice for this.
07:11And as fantastic as that was eaten right out of the pan,
07:15let me go ahead and show you how I really think you should eat this,
07:18which is in a bowl next to some fresh lemon,
07:20and some beautifully toasted bread.
07:22And after tossing on some more chili flakes,
07:25and maybe another touch of olive oil,
07:27I think we should finish with a little freshly grated Parmesan over the top.
07:31And please use the real stuff.
07:34Parmigiano-Reggiano.
07:35And what we'll do is squeeze in a little bit of fresh lemon,
07:38which really brightens things up
07:40and amplifies all the other flavors.
07:42And then we'll grab a piece of toast and a spoon,
07:45and we'll get in there,
07:46and we'll get in there deep.
07:47And as good as those bites in the pan were,
07:50the addition of that fresh lemon juice
07:52and that little bit of Parmesan
07:53take this up to a whole other level.
07:56And if there's a better thing to eat
07:58on a cold, wet, windy winter day,
08:00I do not know what it is.
08:03Because this really is perfection.
08:05Which is why no matter what beans you use,
08:07or which greens you use,
08:09or whether it's sunny and beautiful,
08:11or cold and nasty,
08:13I really do hope you give this a try soon.
08:16So please follow the links below
08:18for the ingredient amounts,
08:20a printable written recipe,
08:21and much more info as usual.
08:23And as always, enjoy.
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