This pretty, dry bean mix from the Kennebec Bean Company (North Vassalboro, ME) is from the outer limits of my local foodshed, but it formed the basis of my featured local meal this week (like others, I eat a lot of local foods, so sometimes I have to pick one meal to feature). I turned to the slow cooker for a spicy Italian sausage and bean vegetable soup.
I quick-soaked the beans (rinse, simmer for 20 minutes, sit for an hour), then browned the sausage in a sauce pan, and sauteed onions, garlic and carrots in some of the leftover fat. I combined the beans, sausage, onions and some carrots in the slow cooker with homemade beef stock and a small can of diced tomatoes (existing pantry stock!), then turned the thing on medium and left for six hours.
30 minutes before we were ready to eat, I added cubed yellow squash and the first of my frozen stockpile of spinach. All we had with it was a few slices of warm, Sunnyfield bread. This, my friends was very good! We finished the meal with an apple pie from my trip to Carter Hill Orchards. What could be better?!
- Maine Beans (around 150 miles)
- Sausage (Rock Farm, 20 miles)
- Onion, carrot, squash, garlic (Moulton Farm, 8 miles)
- Spinach (my CSA, 8 miles)
- Beef Stock (0 miles)
[...] (Yankee Food) featured a spicy Italian sausage and bean soup this week. Using the slow cooker to do the work [...]