Fall is Nipping At Our Heels - It's Sausage, Veg, and Potato Soup Time

* September 12 * Dinner

So, we're in week 13 of our 20 week CSA share. We're starting to get a little anxious about not having the boxes anymore. As it turns out, we're better at not letting produce go to waste when we have the pressure of next week's box.

So, this box was kind of glorious (and we had things from last week to take care of). We still have to figure out what do to with acorn squash (which honestly freak me out a little). So, for tonight we were trying to take advantage of (a) produce, (b) the cool weather, and (c) some amazing so-called "breakfast" sausage that we bought at the Glenwood Sunday Market a few weeks ago (the pork sausage with rosemary, sage, black pepper, garlic, and tarragon was not necessarily breakfasty, but we used some for a lovely red onion, egg, sausage, tiny hot pepper, spinach, basil, and tomato scramble this morning). Anyway, Liz created a bit of fall soupy tastiness.

The taste well complemented the creepy guy outside the sunroom who kept trying to get passersby to give him change and the guy yelling across the street. Ah, the peaceful sounds of fall on W. Fargo.

Anyway, it was truly lovely, despite my overall aversion to carrots (which I support pureed but do not approve of in chunks. I think this is a holdover from my first 20 years of veggie hatred. The crunch still gets to me.). That said, I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this soup. It was warm, fresh, and not soggy. It also combined some of my favorite things: potatoes, sausage, and beans. (I fully believe that the majority of people do not take full advantage of beans.)

Anyway, it went a little something like this:

10oz white potatoes, cubed

5oz chopped of collards (CSA)

1/2 large red onion, diced

7 garlic cloves (crushed)

2 small leeks

4 small carrots cut into little discs (CSA)

2oz of seasoned pork sausage (Glenwood Sunday Market)

1 can of Bush's canellini beans

1 T olive oil

6c chicken broth (Costco Organic)

Herbes de Provence

Black Pepper

2T chopped parsley (fresh, CSA)

1t chopped sage (fresh, CSA)

1/4c Chardonnay

Okay, Flauto just rattled off to me how to do it. I'm going to take a shot. You know I'm just a mouthpiece and she's the brains behind this kitchen operation. So, it went as follows (those of you who make soups can likely just turn off right now).

1. Sauté the garlic, onions, and leeks in olive oil

2. Add sausage, potatoes, and carrots and sauté for a bit longer.

3. Add broth, Herbes de Provence, and pepper and bring soup to a boil

4. Add beans and collards and boil until the potatoes are ready

5. Right at the end add fresh herbs and wine

6. Enjoy tasty goodness while watching the tv show that goes on outside your window

Go, fight, win, soup!!!! I'm not sure what we're going to do when the boxes stop coming. Will we get lazy? We're just heading into prime soup time. Only time will tell.