Italian Sausage, White Bean and Kale Soup

It doesn't get much simpler or better than this hearty winter soup.  Packed full of flavour and goodness and served with crusty chargrilled ciabatta bread, the kids just kept coming back for more.......all you have to do is NOT tell them how good Kale is for you!

Prep time: 30 minutes     Stove top time: 30 minutes to as long as you like    $ Low Budget

Serves 6-8

Olive oil for frying
8 fat, good quality Italian pork sausages
2 brown onions, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp of chilli flakes
1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
2 x 400gm tins of cannellini beans, 1 drained, 1 not
1 cup of dry white wine
2 litres of salt reduced chicken stock
Juice of 1 lemon
1 bunch of Kale, hard ends of the stalks removed and sliced thinly (wash thoroughly)
Sea salt and pepper

Freshly grated parmesan
Zest of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Chilli flakes........for garnish

Heat a large pot and add a little olive oil.  Place the sausages in the pot, turn the heat to low and put a lid on.  Turn the sausages every few minutes until cooked through.  Remove from the pot and set aside to cool slightly.

In the same pot, lightly fry the onion until soft.  Add the garlic, carrot, celery and chilli flakes and continue to fry until the veggies start to tenderise, approximately 5 minutes.  Pour in the wine and allow to cook for a minute or so then pour in the lemon juice, chicken stock and cannellini beans.  The starchy liquid from one of the cans will help to thicken the soup slightly.  Have a taste and season with salt and cracked pepper to your liking, bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer.

Slice the sausages and add to the soup, continuing to simmer for approximately 30 minutes or so.  Just before serving add the Kale and bring back to the boil, it will only need about 3-5 minutes to wilt and you want to serve it while it still has a nice deep green colour and a little texture.

Ladle a generous amount of soup into nice deep bowls.  Top with a nice sprinkling of grated parmesan, lemon zest and a smattering of chilli flakes.  Drizzle over some good quality extra virgin olive oil and serve with crusty bread.