White Beans with Cotechino Sausage
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 45 min. plus overnight soaking of beans
Cotechino, aka Cotecchino, is a specialty of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. This fresh pork sausage has about 6 cm (2 1/2 inches) in diameter and is about 22 cm (9 inches) long. It's made from lean pork and cooked pork skins, the "cotene", which gives it its name. It is spiced with cloves, cinnamon and garlic. You find it also in Bollito Misto, that classic Northern Italian dish of mixed boiled meats.
Ingredients:
- 750 gr (1 1/2 lbs) cotechino sausage, cut into 1 cm (3/8 inches)
- 500 gr (1 lbs) dried cannellini beans
- 1 medium sized fennel, thinly sliced
- 2 medium sized onions, thinly sliced
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp white balsamico vinegar
- 1/2 teasp. dried marjoram
- salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese (optional)
Preparation:
Beans need to soak overnight fully covered by water in a pot.
Next day change the water and cook beans over medium heat for about 30 minutes. Beans should be done but not soft.
Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté onions until they are golden and soft. Add the fennel slices and sauté them until they are soft but still with a bite. Add 1/2 teasp. of dried Marjoram, salt and pepper to taste. Add the sliced cotechino sausage to the onions and sauté for a further 5 minutes over medium heat.
Drain the cooked beans if necessary, but reserve the cooking liquid. Add the beans to the cotechino-onion mixture. Sprinkle olive oil and the white balsamico vinegar over the beans and fold it under - very gently. Taste for salt and pepper. In case the bean-cotechino mixture is too dry add some of the reserved cooking liquid. Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese over the dish and serve with a crusty bread if you like.