Sausage Bean Chowder

Beebee2 — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:57:13 GMT

There are several things about this recipe that might have kept me from giving it a try, but my curiosity and the fact that this is a recipe from the St. Louis Herb Society won out, and I'm so glad. This is really a good hearty and delicious easy-to-make 'stoop'. (Stoop is the word Rachael Ray uses when a dish is thicker than a soup and thinner than a stew. This qualifies.) I like having something like this to have during the busy holiday evenings.

Key to the outcome is the kind of sausage used. I chose Farmer John's spicy hot sausage and it really packs a wallop. I liked it but my husband found it a little too hot and so I will probably use half regular pork sausage and half of the spicy next time around.

Additionally, I used 2 minced garlic cloves and 1/4 t kosher salt instead of the 1/2 t garlic salt. Campbell's tomato juice is really tasty, and I used it. It is 'from concentrate' and comes in a plastic bottle rather than the tall tins, so doesn't have the 'canned' flavor.

I like to get the potatoes out of the way first, but they aren't added until the second step of the recipe. I use my 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup, and fill it first with 2 cups of water, then add diced potatoes until the water level reaches 3 cups. It's a quick way to measure and the potatoes stay white in the water until needed.

Sausage Bean Chowder

1 lb hot seasoned bulk pork sausage
(2) 1-lb cans red kidney beans
(2) 1-lb cans tomatoes
3 1/2 c tomato juice
1 large onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 t seasoned salt
1/2 t garlic salt
1 t thyme
1/8 t pepper
1 c potatoes, peeled and diced
1 lg green pepper, seeded and chopped

In skillet cook sausage until brown; pour off fat. Drain the sausage on a double layer of paper towels, and pat the top with more towels to remove as much fat as possible.

In large kettle combine beans, tomatoes, tomato juice, onion bay leaf and other seasonings.

Add sausage, cover and simmer 1 hr.

Add potatoes, cover and cook 10 min more.

Add green pepper, cover and cook additional 10 min. Remove bay leaf and serve. Serves 10.

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Sausage Bean Chowder