Day 163: Smoked sausage, bean and root vegetable soup

The countdown is officially on. T minus 14. This time two weeks, I will be sat here trying to adjust to life post-Challenge. It’s been such a big part of my life for the past 6 months but, yesterday, I sat down and took the time to plan out the remainder of the recipes. So, for the next two weeks, each day has been assigned a recipe with the Grand Finale happening on Sunday, 4 November. The Dear Parents have been invited, the Dear Sisters have been invited, the Dear Brothers-in-Law have been invited and the other half of Dear Sister No.3 so that will be dinner for 12 thank you very much – 6 male and 6 female; a healthy divide. My cook book (actually, what’s left of my cook book) has been decorated with my usual pink and green Post-Its and the date written on each one. So, here’s the recipe that had Mon, 21 Oct stuck to it…

To make the Smoked sausage, bean and root vegetable soup, I began by adding olive oil to a large saucepan followed by sliced frankfurter sausages. The recipe said to use cabanossi sausage or any smoked sausage but frankfurter sausages were the only type I could get my hands on. After a minute, I added in diced onion and chopped garlic which I seasoned and let sauté for 5 minutes with the lid on. At that point, I added in vegetable stock along with a bay leaf and two sprigs on thyme. Once it came up to the boil, I then reduced the heat to a simmer and added diced carrot which cooked for 15 minutes. I then added in diced parsnip and potatoes along with cannellini beans which cooked for another 15 minutes. Then, all I had to do was serve up.

The verdict…

Dear Husband reckoned that the soup smelled nicer than it tasted and awarded my efforts 6 marks out of 10. He was really looking forward to the frankfurter sausages (as I'd never cooked them before) but he said they weren’t as nice as he thought they’d be. And I know for a fact that the inclusion of cannellini beans didn’t exactly help things either. Well, we all know what Dear Husband is like about beans and pulses!

Overall, it was an extremely easy recipe to make. Nothing at all was complicated. However, it was a longer recipe to make as it took me the best part of an hour to make. Will I make it again? I think I’ll have to pass because there are numerous other recipes in the cook book which would take precedence over this one.  Therefore, unfortunately, this recipe has failed to make The List. Well, not all 180 recipes could possibly make The List. Until tomorrow folks…