Turkey Sausages with Spicy Beans is a recipe I first saw on the Cooking Channel’s “Extra Virgin” with Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos. I also found that they have a Web site www.underthetuscangun.com which is also a must-visit Web site for great recipes, products, and more.

I absolutely love this show and learn so much from Debi and Gabriele that I wanted to share one of the recipes. I take no credit for this and give all the praise and credit to Debi and Gabriele for sharing this and their love of cooking, teaching others, and their love of life in general.

I’ve made this twice now, once during the week and once for our Family Sunday dinner and it was amazing both times. I’ll share the recipe as they presented it, but I will say the flavors are so good that I didn’t have to add salt. In fact, when traveling in Italy I found that to be the case when you combine the right foods and spices adding more salt just isn’t needed. So enjoy and again thank you to Debi and Gabriele for allowing me to share this amazing recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 8 mild Italian turkey sausages
  • 5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced into chunks
  • 1 pound cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 3 dry red hot peppers
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 5 fresh bay leaves
  • 2 handfuls fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped

DIRECTIONS
Heat a large high-sided saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil to heat. Once hot, add the sausages and brown on all sides, for about 8 minutes total. Remove the sausages from the pan to plate and reserve.

Add the garlic, and saute until golden and brown. With a wooden spoon, stir in the chopped tomatoes and red peppers and season with salt and pepper. Lower the flame, and cover the pan with a lid, simmer for 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have broken down and thickened to a sauce-like consistency.

Add the browned sausages (and any juice left on the plate), beans, and bay leaves to the thickened tomatoes. Stir well and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Add the chopped parsley before serving.

Serves: 6; Calories: 432; Total Fat: 22 grams; Saturated Fat: 6 grams; Protein: 31 grams; Total carbohydrates: 27 grams; Sugar: 5 grams; Fiber: 7.5 grams; Cholesterol: 93 milligrams; Sodium: 1375 milligrams