Tuscan Bean, Cabbage, and Sausage Soup

This recipe comes from Sara Foster in her cookbook Foster's Market Favorites, which is one of my most well-loved and well-splattered cookbooks. This is a soup I return to every fall, bursting with fall vegetables and high-quality protein. Using hot pork sausage will make the flavor "pop" even more, or use sweet Italian chicken sausage, with its fennel, to complement the other flavors. 

You can also easily make this a slow cooker recipe: soak the beans overnight and then follow the slow cooker instructions below. 

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. olive oil, butter, or lard
• 2 onions, diced
• 1 lb. hot pork sausage or sweet Italian chicken sausage  
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed and thinly sliced
• 8 cups bone broth (here's how to make your own!)
• 1 cup dried Navy or cannellini beans, rinsed and picked through (or sub canned beans)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning 
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 head cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
• 1 bunch kale, stems removed and roughly chopped
• Toasted sourdough bread (optional) 

Stovetop Directions

1. Heat your preferred cooking fat (olive oil, butter, or lard) in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, until soft and light brown, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up sausage into small pieces, about 5 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and cook, stirring, until the celery is soft, about 5 minutes longer. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute more. 
3. Add the broth, beans, bay leaves, dried seasoning, and salt and pepper and stir to mix, and turn up the heat to bring the soup to a low boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the beans are tender, about 1 hour and 30 minutes. (If using low beans, bring to a low boil, reduce to simmer, and then move onto the next step.) 
4. Remove the bay leaves from the soup and discard. Stir in the cabbage and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Add the kale and simmer until the kale just begins to wilt. 
5. Serve warm with slices of toasted sourdough bread. 

Slow Cooker Directions

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 above (cooking the onions, sausage, carrots, celery, and garlic), either on the stove or using the sauté feature on your slow cooker or pressure cooker. 
2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours.