Beans and Sausage

"This is really good." That's all that needs to be said about this dinner. Simple and pure comfort food. The recipe is from Every Night Italian by Giuliano Hazan.

From Every Night Italian, Salsicce e Fagioli - Beans and Sausage

Ingredients
1 1/2 cans (15 oz each) cannellini beans drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, lightly crushed and peeled
1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves
1 1/4 cups canned whole peeled tomatoes with their juice, coarsely chopped
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 pound pork sausages links

Method-
Put the olive oil and garlic in a heavy bottomed sauté pan large enough to hold the sausages in a single layer. Place it over medium-high heat and sauté the garlic cloves until lightly browned on all sides.

When the garlic is browning, coarsely chop the fresh sage. When the garlic has browned discard it. Add the chopped sage to the pan and cook stirring for about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and beans. Season with salt and pepper, keeping in mind that the sausages are already fairly salty.

Add the sausage. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down to medium-low. Cover the pan and cook at a gentle simmer until the sausage feels tender when pricked with a fork, about 20 minutes. Check the pan occasionally and add a little water if all the liquid in the pan evaporates before the sausages are done. Do not be concerned if some of the beans become mashed during the cooking. It only adds to the lusciousness of the dish. Serve hot.

We drizzled our dishes with additional extra virgin olive oil and served with toasted Italian bread.