Gastrique-fancy

I ran across this recipe from the Restaurant Widow and loved it. My family did too and I thought I'd share. I did some modifications, which I'll list here, but for the original, please see the above link. 

Italian Sausage with Swiss Chard and White Beans-serves 4-6

1/2 pound Italian sausage, crumbled

1 can cannellini beans, juice reserved

1 small onion, medium dice

1 clove garlic, sliced thin

3 large leaves swiss chard, chopped roughly (stems smaller) - I used Rainbow Chard, pretty

1 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp. salt or to taste

freshly ground cracked black pepper

1/2 Tbls. red pepper flakes

parmesan cheese

Combine stock, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes in a small pot. Bring to a boil. (This is the gastrique! Yummy good)

In a large pan, brown sausage. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Add onions and garlic, saute until translucent. (I also added the chard stems here to have them soften). Add beans, chard, sausage and gastrique back to the pan. Cook until chard wilts and sauce thickens. Add reserved bean juice 2 Tablespoons at a time as desired to help thicken the sauce.  Serve in bowls with grated parmesan and sea salt. 

So yummy. The original recipe calls for Italian sausage in links, with casing removed, so I just went for bulk. I could have easily used the whole pound of sausage, but I'm trying to cut back on that. The original also calls for kale, which I forgot to grab, and beef broth, which I didn't have. It calls for 2 cans of white beans (or the equivalent), but I like cannellini. So there. :) It also calls for a whole Tablespoon of the red pepper flakes. It was spicy enough with the 1/2 Tablespoon, and even the girls could tolerate it (with milk and bread and butter!) But they ate the whole thing. 

Sorry no pic, I was too hungry :) Follow the link for a pic! haha! Let me know if you try it. I loved it.