Red Beans with Pasta Sausage & Tomatoes
Submitted by ladonna1969
Rustic Italian red bean, rigatoni, and hot sausage casserole braised with chard, tomato, oregano, and white wine. Stick-to-your-ribs baked pasta for cold nights.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
35 minREADY
1 hrsThis casserole is rustic Italian cooking at its most satisfying: dried red beans, short-cut rigatoni, hot Italian sausage, fresh tomatoes, and leafy chard all come together in one Dutch oven for a dinner that tastes like it took longer than it did.
The two-hour bean simmer is the longest step, but dried beans beat canned here for three reasons: better texture, better flavor absorption, and no mushy canned-bean skins falling apart in the casserole. Start this earlier in the day, and the rest of the assembly takes under 30 minutes.
Blanching and peeling fresh tomatoes sounds fussy but matters. Skins that stay on form tough strips in the finished dish that nobody wants to chew. Once you’ve done it a few times, the peel-and-seed routine takes barely a minute per tomato.
Chard stems and leaves both go in, but at different times. Stems take longer to soften, so they cook with the casserole for the full 20 minutes. Leaves are added at the end and need only 5 minutes to wilt. Cooking them together wastes the bright greens and stringy stems.
Hot Italian sausage brings the seasoning. Fennel seeds, chili flakes, and garlic already in the sausage flavor the whole pot, which is why the recipe leans lightly on extra salt and spice. Draining the rendered fat after 3 minutes of browning keeps the casserole from going greasy.
Pro Tips
- Pre-soaking beans overnight cuts the simmer time to 45-60 minutes and improves digestibility.
- Cook the rigatoni to barely al dente (slightly firmer than you’d eat it). It’ll finish cooking in the oven and absorb sauce.
- Use a mix of fresh Roma and canned whole tomatoes for depth. Fresh brings brightness, canned adds body.
- Offer grated Parmigiano-Reggiano at the table. Pre-grate it in the kitchen to keep serving simple.
Variations
- Swap red beans for cannellini or borlotti for different Italian flavors and softer texture.
- Use sweet Italian sausage and add a pinch of red pepper flakes separately if you want milder heat.
- Substitute kale or escarole for chard if that’s what’s in season or in the fridge.
Ingredients
Directions
PLACE BEANS IN A POT with enough water to barely cover, cover the pot and cook over low heat until beans are barely soft, about 2 hours.
Add water to keep the beans just covered as necessary.
When beans are done, remove from heat, drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, cut the stems out of fresh tomatoes and plunge them into boiling water for barely 1 minute, or until skins crack.
Remove from water, peel the tomatoes, cut them in half crosswise and squeeze out the seeds.
If using canned whole tomatoes, cut them in half and squeeze out seeds.
Cut each tomato half in quarters and set aside.
Cook pasta until barely soft according to the manufacturer’s directions.
Drain and mix with the beans.
Lay the chard leaves on a work surface and cut out the center stem.
Roughly chop the leaves and thinly slice the stems.
Set aside.
PREHEAT OVEN TO 350℉ (180℃).
Combine oil and sausages in a Dutch oven, place over medium heat and cook 3 minutes.
Pour off the fat, add the garlic and cook, stirring, another minute.
Add the tomatoes, beans and pasta, wine, oregano, chard stems, salt and pepper.
Cover and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
When it’s time to get dinner on the table, add chopped chard to the casserole.
If the casserole appears dry, add up to 1 cup water.
Replace in the oven for 5 minutes.
Serve piping hot from the oven and offer grated cheese.
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