Italian White Bean and Sausage Stew

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ cups dry cannellini beans
• 4 (6 ounce) Italian sausage links with garlic and fennel
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• ⅓ cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 cups water, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 4 cups chopped kale
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, or to taste
• 6 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or to taste
• 6 pinches red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak beans in cold water, 8 hours to overnight.
2. Drain beans and set aside.
3. Make a cut down the center of each sausage and peel off the casing. Transfer sausage into a dry soup pot over medium-high heat. Brown sausage, while breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon, 5 to 7 minutes. Cook and stir until juices start to caramelize and stick to the bottom of the pan, creating a fond, 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Add onion and stir to coat in the rendered sausage fat. Cook until onion starts to turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Add white wine to deglaze the pot. Add black pepper, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, and water.
5. Add drained beans, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt and continue to simmer until beans are tender, about 30 more minutes. Taste beans to be certain they are perfectly cooked.
6. Smash about 1/4 of the beans with a potato masher to give the stew a creamy texture if desired. Stir in chopped kale, increase heat to medium, and cook until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Taste and adjust salt.
7. Ladle hot soup into bowls, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

NOTES

• Instead of soaking dried beans overnight, you can use canned beans. Dried beans come out better though and are less expensive.
• Use any sausage you want. If your sausage doesn't have garlic in it, add 2 cloves minced garlic 5 minutes after you add onion. Pecorino can be used instead of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
• If you don't have wine, you can use 2 tablespoons wine vinegar and 1/4 cup water, or just use water.
• The amount of water you add will depend on how thick you want the stew. I use about 7 1/2 cups.
• You can use any greens for the kale, like spinach, Swiss chard, mustard greens, or stinging nettles. Cooking time will vary based on what you use.