Sausage and Bean (and Kale) Casserole

I am celebrating my 14th participation in The Secret Recipe Club, a food blogger recipe exchange where bloggers are paired and reveal their partner and what recipe they prepared on a designated day. For this month’s club, I was assigned to Fake Ginger, named for the author's "unnaturally red hair" (her words) and her extreme dislike of fresh ginger - hilarious. Amanda is mom to three little boys, and her husband is proudly serving our country overseas. Her blog is full of recipes and beautiful photos of what she cooks, bakes (LOTS of baking going on at her house!), Thirsty Thursday libations, and her kids and dog. A fun read. I had trouble selecting a recipe as a number made the short list: zucchini fritters, lentil and collard soup, chicken with cranberry mustard sauce, but I finally decided on sausage and bean casserole because I had a ton of (homemade baked) beans to use. I don’t know how I got the notion in my head that greens go so well with sausage and beans, but I do, and we had kale from the last farmers’ market of the season that was screamin’ to be sautéed and thrown in the dish for good measure.
The result? We both declared it a winner, a keeper for sure, and we wholeheartedly agree with Amanda that it’s reminiscent of a quick cooking cassoulet, one of Craig's faves. Like other fall dishes, this is warming, hearty comfort food at its finest and easy peasey. It’s tangy, slightly sweet, and the breadcrumbs give it nice texture. And it has a lot of flexibility in terms of what kinds of beans you use. Since my baked beans were prepared similarly to the beans in this recipe, they worked well with no changes. If you're using plain cannellini beans, you would want to look at Amanda's original recipe. I also threw in a few canned roma tomatoes that I diced, and the kale provides a wonderful nutritional boost to this homey, one dish meal (I did roast some green beans too to round out our meal). The recipe below reflects the changes I made.

Sausage, Bean, and Kale Casserole
Serves 4 and could be easily doubled

A big bunch of kale
Chicken stock

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 links chicken or turkey sausage, about 9 ounces (I used Trader Joe’s spicy chicken sausage), cut into 1/4 inch-thick slices
2  garlic cloves, minced
1  cup prepared baked beans, preferably homemade
1 cup diced tomatoes with their juices (canned is fine)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
Homemade bread crumbs or panko

Preheat oven to 375F.

Remove stems from kale and coarsely chop. Wash kale (residual water will help steam it).
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add kale, and sauté 1 minute. Add enough stock to steam and soften the kale, cooking about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove kale and set aside.

Add olive oil to pan and heat. Add onion and sausage to pan; sauté for 5 minutes or until browned. Add garlic, and sauté for 2 minutes.

Stir in beans, tomatoes, and spices. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes until any liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat. Mix in kale and stir to combine.
(At this point, I transferred the bean mixture to a baking dish coated with cooking spray.) Sprinkle with enough bread crumbs to evenly cover the bean mixture, and spritz with olive oil (or cooking spray) to moisten the bread crumbs.

Bake at 375° for 15 to 20 minutes or until browned. 
(Leftovers with roasted green beans)

15 comments:

  1. sounds fantastic and very similar to the type of recipes I love to cook.

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    1. Thanks, Corina, it was tasty comfort food.

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  2. It is the kale that sells this recipe to me. I love it. The whole mix looks delicious.

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    1. I agree. The kale really compliments the sausage and beans perfectly. Thanks for stopping by.

      Denise

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  3. I love the combination of sausage, beans and kale. I bet this was delicious!

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    1. Danielle, thanks for stopping by. It was really taste, finished the leftovers for lunch today.

      Denise

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  4. Great casserole...looks full of so many yummy things! :)

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    1. If more casseroles were healthy like this one and tasted so good (and no thank you, cream of X soup), they wouldn't have such a bad rap. Thanks for leaving a message.

      Denise

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  5. Oh, yum - that sounds deliciously flavorful, and like a wonderful all-in-one meal!! Great choice.

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  6. Yay, I'm so glad y'all enjoyed it! I love kale so I know I'd love your version! It looks delicious!

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  7. What a delicious casserole, I can't wait to try it, and this is a great recipe for the SRC.
    Have a good week!
    Miz Helen

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, and for taking the extra responsibilities for the orphans this month.

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  8. Looks delicious and great combination of flavors.

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    1. It was a great winter dish, and it does have a nice combo of tastes and texture.

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  9. Kale (or any green with some bitter to it) and beans is a great combo. I love stirring greens into bean soup, for example. Never tried them in a casserole like this, though, but it's a great idea!

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