Italian Sausage-Lentil Soup with Leeks
This longtime family recipe is a winning New Year’s dish; Fun fact: Lentils are believed to bring good luck and prosperity throughout the new year because they resemble coins!
Ingredients:
1 pound Italian sausage
1 pound lentils
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 leeks, cleaned with white and light green parts chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
8 cups chicken stock
2 cans (14.5 oz) chopped tomatoes
½ cup red wine
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons dried oregano
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese, for topping
Method:
1. In a large pot, brown the sausage until it is no longer pink. Remove from the pan, drain and set aside.
2. In the same pot, add the olive oil and then sauté onion, celery, carrot, and garlic until tender. Add stock, lentils, tomatoes, sausage, wine, sugar, vinegar, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then season with basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 1 and ½ hours. Ladle into bowls and top with Parmesan cheese.
The Italian Spring Recipes
Rich with comforting flavors, yet bright with spring ingredients, this week’s Italian-themed box is equally fit for a grand feast, or an intimate meal for two. Have fun experimenting in the kitchen with the provisions for pasta night—locally-crafted bucatini, organic Italian sausage, Tuscan-spiced salami, Pain au Levain bread and a savory salt mix—plus, gorgeous garden favorites like radishes, cauliflower, sunflower shoots, green garlic and basil. Inside you’ll also find: Locally-foraged fiddleheads, classic-style biscotti, and farm-fresh eggs. Enjoy!
Here are a few recipe ideas for the week:
Bucatini Pasta with Italian Sausage & Sautéed Fiddleheads
Everyone will be asking for seconds of this extremely satisfying dish.
Roasted Radishes with Brown Butter & Lemon
The sweet, nutty brown butter here lends a beautiful finishing touch.
Whole-Roasted Cauliflower
This dish can’t be beat for presentation, served whole and topped with olive oil and sea salt.
Green Garlic Salad Dressing
Flavor-packed ground mustard, vinegar and green garlic stalks mix beautifully in this easy vinaigrette.
Sweet Onion Confit
This buttery-sweet topping is wonderful in sandwiches or even atop crackers.
Bucatini Pasta with Italian Sausage & Sautéed Fiddleheads
Everyone will be asking for seconds of this extremely satisfying dish.
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh pasta of your choice, such as this week’s bucatini
1 sweet onion, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 cups fiddlehead ferns, washed and patted dry with a paper towel
1 bunch Lacinato kale, greens removed from tough rib ends and then roughly chopped
4 tablespoons freshly-chopped herbs, such as a combination of basil, parsley and oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus an additional tablespoon for finishing
Grana-style cheese, grated
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Method:
1. Cook the pasta for 5-7 minutes in a pot of heavily salted water until al dente, or just cooked through with a bit of bite left. Reserve about ½ cup of the pasta water, then drain, and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, slice the Italian sausage links into bite-sized rounds and cook in a large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through and no longer pink on the inside. Remove the sausage to a plate and set aside.
3. Wipe any excess grease from the skillet with a paper towel, then drizzle in 2 tablespoons olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add in the onion, garlic and fiddleheads and sauté until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add in the chopped kale and continue to sauté, stirring until the kale is just wilted.
4. Add the pasta and sausage back into the skillet and toss to combine with the fiddlehead-kale mixture; seasoning with salt and pepper. Add in the herbs and toss once more; if the pasta seems a little dry, moisten with the reserved pasta water. Finish by sprinkling each serving with grated Grana-style cheese and an additional swirl of olive oil.
Hearty, Healthy Italian Recipes
This week’s box is packed with the vibrant flavors of Italy, found in the forms of locally-made bucatini pasta, Italian sausage from Skagit River Ranch, and soft, pillowy focaccia—plus health-boosting, vitamin-rich produce like dried Porcini mushrooms and bright radicchio, plus carrots, Cipollini onions, garlic, fennel and a bevy of citrus fruit. Farm-fresh eggs, our signature chicken stock and freshly-baked lemon knot cookies help finish off this fresh and flavorful Italian lineup; mangia!
Here are a few recipe ideas for the week:
Bucatini Pasta with Italian Sausage & Porcini Mushrooms
Everyone will be asking for seconds of this extremely satisfying dish.
Fresh Radicchio, Fennel & Apple Salad
Tart, crunchy and crisp, this cool salad celebrates the classic combination of fennel and radicchio.
Baked Fennel
This classic Italian finocchi gratinati is simply sublime.
Carrots Marinated with Garlic & Oregano
This room-temperature dish packs in the flavor and makes for a lovely side dish or light lunch!
Fennel & Lemon Relish
This crisp slaw from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food II is excellent tossed with roasted vegetables, or even served as part of a charcuterie board.
