Sausage in white beans alongside pappa al pomodoro.
So for the pappa al pomodoro, I toast my stale bread
which you just tear up kind of ragged and rough rustic style
and throw it onto a baking sheet
and then I put it in the oven and I toast it.
It makes the bread slightly nutty and a little more sturdy
when you stir it into the tomato soup.
So in this pan, I started with one fennel, one onion
and you add salt and pepper
so it draws the liquid out of the fennel and the onion
and then we add sweet sausage with fennel,
about a pound for every four people
and once all that's happening then we grate in the garlic.
When people tell me they don't care for garlic,
it's usually a problem with how they're preparing it
and the temperature of the pan when they add the garlic.
We add the garlic later in dishes
so that it doesn't singe or get bitter.
And then we're going to add lots, a copious amount of sage,
a good handful, a nice big, thick stack of sage.
Stack them all together
and then just rock the knife from the tip.
And then we need white beans.
Now, if you have the time, soak your beans overnight
or you can do a quick soak
with boiling water over them for one hour
and you can cook the dry beans with fresh bay leaves
and an onion.
If you don't have the time, buy a couple of jars or cans
of white beans so cannellini or borlotti beans,
the little pink beans, are also very delicious.
You just add them to the skillet
and we wanna pick up all the fond,
all the great little snibbly bits from the sausage.
So we're going to add some white wine.
This is a Tuscan.
(applause)
Now, pappa al pomodoro is the simplest thing
in the world to make.
It's like nothing.
It's olive oil that you warm.
You add garlic and cook it gently and slowly, right?
Zero color on the garlic, just bubbling
over very low heat in good olive oil.
Now we're gonna take a large can
of Italian whole tomatoes, San Marzanos.
This is hand crushing obviously.
So we end up with coarse pieces of the tomatoes,
the sugary sweet tomatoes.
If you use tomatoes from your pantry
that are not San Marzano,
most people add a little pinch of sugar to this.
You can add a little bit of red pepper as my family prefers.
Milder of course would be a little bit of black pepper.
Different flavor hits different points in your mouth.
You can add both.
Go crazy.
I can't see you, it's fine by me.
So we're going to add a good seasoned with authority
pinch of salt and then we're going to add some stock.
Now, in the sausage dish with the white beans and the sage,
I used some beef bone stock or you can use veal stock
is traditional for Tuscany and for the other dish,
oh, this is getting beautiful,
you want it to thicken up a bit just like this.
Oh, I love this.
The starch in the beans starts to cook out and break down
and the wine has been absorbed by the sausage
and the sage you can really smell.
It's so delightful.
I'm gonna turn that down 'cause he's pretty much done.
Great.
And this guy, I used chicken bone broth.
Of course, if you wanna make this a vegetarian preparation,
use vegetable stock instead.
And I'm gonna reserve a little and see where the bread goes.
It depends on how much bread you toast up
how much the pappa al pomodoro will absorb.
Now this just hangs out a few minutes
and starts to thicken up again, right
and concentrate the flavor
of whichever stock that you added.
And then we're gonna stir in the toasty bread
to get it ready to serve
and we're gonna add a good amount of torn basil.
Here is our pot of pappa al pomodoro.
So to serve this, we just pop it in a bowl.
Parmigiano.
Good fruity olive oil, delightful.
And then we bring up the brother dish,
the sausage and white beans and sage.
(applause)
Put that in a little dish alongside with the fennel, onions,
all that fresh sage.
(applause)