Braised Beans and Sardines with Fennel from The Careless Cook

 

Unlike most recipes from The Careless Cook, this takes a little time, but no worries, the time is just chopping and slicing and dicing. Even The Careless Cook can get this done pretty quickly while he’s sipping an excellent white wine from the Alsace.

 

Another good thing about this recipe is it feeds at least four of your freeloader friends. Bad thing is, this is so delicious, they’ll be embarrassed to invite you over. 

 

Ok, let’s get going!

 

Ingredients

 

1 fennel bulb. Hack off the stalks and fronds

1 lemon, cut in half

¼ cup olive oil. I don’t care if you’re sacrificing a virgin oil or now.

2 medium shallots, sliced thin

6 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped

¼ cup Italian herbs (I used The Spice Lab Italian Rustico from Amazon)

½ teaspoon (or more) red pepper flakes

½ cup dry or barely sweet white wine

6 cups chicken broth (I used Swanson Organic Chicken Broth)

2 cans of beans of choice (I used one can of red beans and one can of chickpeas)

5 chicken Andouille sausages, cut in arounds

1 can of oil packed sardines, drained (Someone in my house does not like sardines. She sliced and cut excellent salami.)        Both are delicious and with no fish or meat, it's still delicious.

1 cup coarsely chopped parsley

Coarse salt to taste

 

Serve with toasted bread.  I bake 2 Hour Fastest No Knead Bread by JennyCanCook.com.  Online recipe. Don’t let 2 hours scare you. The dough sits for an hour and it bakes for 45 minutes.  And no, I do not know this woman, nor does anyone pay me, but I do love her bread.

Puttin’ it together!

 

Slice the fennel bulb in half, then slice the halves thinly.

Thinly slice one half of the lemon and pick out any seeds.

 

Heat the oil in a large pot with the top off. Add the sliced fennel,

shallots, garlic, lemon slices, red pepper flakes, andouille sausage rounds, and cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is soft. 

Takes about 5-7 minutes.

 

Add wine to the pot. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil.

 

Reduce to a simmer, stirring for about five minutes. Fennel should be tender.  

Add the beans and cook another 8-10 minutes to let the beans soak up some broth.

 

Stir in the parsley, taste and add more salt to taste.

 

Serve in bowls of your choice, and place the sardines or whatever your heart desires and squeeze the other half of the lemon over the top.

 

There will be some luscious wine left for you! No worries. Your freeloaders are probably Beer swillers. 

With sardines on top.