Italian Bean Soup

Photo from Yellow 
Bliss Road

I'm not really sure about this soup. All the ingredients are ingredients I love so it seems like I should love this soup, but it didn't hit quite right. 

Honestly, I think I'm so careful with salt now that this lacked salt. I added some to my bowl after and it wasn't exactly what was missing. At any rate, it was good enough for a meal and will be good enough for lunch tomorrow. 

Actually now that I think about it, I know the problem. I used ground beef instead of ground Italian sausage. That would have made all the difference. Why no Italian sausage you ask? Well, I didn't buy any. I'm really not sure how I missed it, but I did.

Italian Bean Soup

Recipe from Yellow Bliss Road

Serves 6

• Olive oil
• 1 pound ground Italian sausage sweet or spicy
• 1 c diced onion
• ½ c sliced carrots
• ½ c sliced celery
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• ½ tsp salt plus more to taste
• ½ tsp pepper plus more to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 15 ounce cans cannellini beans drained and rinsed
• 32 ounces beef broth
• 2-3 T fresh minced parsley
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese optional

Melt a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sausage and onion and cook, stirring often, until sausage is fully cooked. Add carrots, celery, garlic, Italian seasoning and bay leaf, tomato paste and cook for about 2 more minutes.

Pour in crushed tomatoes, beans and beef broth. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Discard bay leaf and stir in fresh parsley. Divide into bowls and service, garnished with fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese.