Karin's Week Fourteen Recipe: Garlic, Black Bean & Sausage Soup

It was a cold, rainy, and dreary day... so I decided to make soup.  As what else would make a filling, warm comfort food - fast?  I have a book called Fresh and Simple Quick Simmering Soups, by Better Homes and Gardens, and usually I make the Red Pepper Soup out of it.  Paging through, this soup looked easy, and we had all the ingredients on hand.

Garlic, Black Bean & Sausage Soup

12 oz bulk mild Italian sausage
1.5 c chopped onion
10 cloves garlic, minced (approx 5 tsp)
1/2 tsp fennel seed, crushed
2 - 15oz cans black beans, drained & rinsed
1 - 14/5 oz can beef broth (I just measured approx amt from my box 'o' broth)
Dash ground red pepper (optional)
1/4 c sour cream
2 c chopped tomatoes (I used 1 14oz can, so approximated)
2 T snipped fresh oregano (I used Penzey's dried, approx 1 T)

In large saucepan cook sausage, onion, garlic and fennel seed over med-high heat for 10-12 min or until sausage is no longer pink. Drain well. (I didn't have anything to drain at this point.)

Stir in black beans and beef broth. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 15 min.

Meanwhile, if desired, stir red pepper into sour cream. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. (I didn't do this, as Nate does not like sour cream.)

Just before serving, stir in the tomatoes and oregano into soup; heat through. Top each serving with sour cream mixture.

This soup turned out quite nicely - it got 4 thumbs up. The only thing I might change, is to use a slightly spicier sausage, as the mild we used didn't seem to add much in flavor. I did put sour cream in mine, and liked that it made the soup thicker. I had the leftovers for lunch the next day, and it was even better after it had sat in the fridge overnight.