Roasted Garlic and Fennel Soup with Italian Sausage

Soups and stews are my absolute favorite thing to make for quite a few reasons. First, they're just about the easiest thing you can make and with a properly stocked pantry you can ALWAYS make a good soup. Second, soups are cheap, they feed a lot of people, and they're a great way to stretch a buck using cheap ingredients. Third, they're incredibly nourishing and nutritious. You can put just about any veggie in a soup and if you cook it long enough, it will be delicious. Finally, soups and stews always lead to left-overs. All you have to do it make a double batch, and either eat for a couple of days or freeze and eat in a month. I'm a very blessed woman because my husband will eat soup everyday if I make it, and he'll be excited about it too! So for those reasons and so many more, we do A LOT of soups and stews in our home- at LEAST once, if not twice a week. So here is the recipe for this particular soup, which is one of my best, if I do say so myself. It's creamy from the beans. It's hearty from the sausage. It's a little bit sweet from the roasted garlic. It just hits all the notes. Try it. There is no way you can't love it.

Ingredients:
-2 tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut oil (or butter)
-1 lb Italian sausage (sweet or hot will work. I used sweet, but I ended up adding red pepper flake so it really doesn't matter). I had links, so I cut them into 1 inch chunks and I left the casings on because I enjoy the crisp, but you could also use bulk sausage if that's what you have.
-1 large bulb of fennel, sliced. If you have never used fresh fennel, it is one of the most delicious veggies out there. Don't be intimidated by the funny looking hair at the top- those are the fronds. To prepare the fennel, just slice off the top right where the stalks meet the bulb (don't throw away the fronds!- I juiced mine tonight. But you can add them to salads and it's delicious. Better yet, use it to garnish the soup), slice off the bottom of the bulb. Cut the bulb into quarters, and slice into each quarter on an angle to remove the core. Then just slice the quarters into 1 inch slices.
-1 whole head (yes, HEAD. Not clove) of garlic
-1 medium onion, diced
-4 stalks of celery, diced
-1 can of great northern beans or cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
- 6 cups homemade chicken stock- here's my recipe. If you don't have homemade, don't worry. Just use a quality boxed stock
-1 bunch of kale, washed, stemmed and rough chopped
-sea salt and pepper to taste
-pinch of red pepper flake (optional)
-2 bay leaves
-1/8 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Directions:
-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Place your sliced fennel on a baking sheet and toss with 1/2 tbsp melted coconut oil, sea salt and pepper. Toss to coat and spread into one layer on the cookie sheet. At the same time, cut your head of garlic in half horizontally. Leave the paper on and everything, and wrap the garlic and another 1/2 tbsp coconut oil up in a piece of aluminum foil (lined with parchment if you care about leaching heavy metals into your body- I do.) Place both the fennel and the garlic in the oven. Roast the fennel for 30 minutes, turning once halfway through. You WANT it to caramelize. Let the garlic roast for an additional 15 minutes, for a total of 45 minutes.
-While your fennel and garlic are roasting, brown your sausage in 1 tbsp coconut oil over high heat in a stock pot on your stovetop. Don't be afraid to let it get REALLY brown. Color=flavor! When brown, remove to a paper-towel lined plate and reserve for later. 
-Reduce the heat to medium, add in your onions and celery. Season with sea salt, pepper, and red pepper flake if using. Saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. 
-Add your stock, bay leaves and white beans to the pot and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
-By now your fennel and garlic should be nicely roasted. Set the fennel aside. Carefully unwrap the garlic- some steam may come out so don't get burned! When it's cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skin and right into the big simmering pot of soup. It should come out fairly easily.
-At this point, I use my immersion blender (my blender stick I like to call it) but if you don't have one you can definitely just use your blender. Just do small batches so it doesn't explode. Oh and don't forget to fish out the bay leaves first- you don't want to blend those.
-When smooth and creamy, return the pot to the heat. Rough chop your roasted fennel and add it to the pot. Add back in your reserved sausage and chopped kale. Add in the fresh nutmeg (I put nutmeg with ALL of my leafy greens).
-Bring the pot to a simmer, and put the lid on but leave it cracked. Let it simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Taste for seasonings and add S&P to taste. Enjoy! 

*Please use organic ingredients when possible.

www.facebook.com/happyhealthnut