Chicken Sausages with Tomatoes and Shallot         
Course: dinner
Author: Carrie Minns
Prep time: 12 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Total time: 52 mins
Serves: 5

This recipe is one of my family’s favorites when the fresh stuff is slim. Most of the ingredients are canned goods you have in your pantry. I buy my chicken sausages at my meat counter. They always have a selection of “flavors” and I usually choose a few such as chicken and apple and chicken, feta and spinach. I like to serve this with brown rice but white rice, couscous, or quinoa would be equally as good. A side of steamed broccoli rounds out the meal, although, if you can get your hands on some fresh asparagus, I’d go for that instead. For the fresh thyme, I use some pretty scraggly stuff from out in my yard and it doesn’t seem to affect the taste so snip away at any thyme you may have creeping around.
 

Ingredients

•  2 tbsp olive oil
•  2 tbsp butter
•  5 chicken sausages, uncooked, any flavor
•  3 large shallot sections, peeled and coarsely chopped
•  3 garlic cloves sliced lengthwise
•  2 Bay leaves
•  4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
•  salt & pepper to taste
•  1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
•  1 15-oz can white beans (cannellini, garbanzo, etc.) drained and rinsed

Instructions
 

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Heat a dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot such as a Le Creuset over medium heat.
• Melt and heat your butter and olive oil.
• Add in your sausages and brown about 1-2 minutes on each side.
• Sprinkle in your shallots and using a spatula or wooden spoon, gently press them down to where they can cook in the oil and butter for about 3 minutes.
• Add your garlic and do the same as with the shallots for about 1 minute.
• Add your spices: salt & pepper, Bay leaf and thyme.
• Pour tomatoes and all of their juices over the top of the whole thing.
• Take the pot off the burner and put the whole thing in the oven with the lid off.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Stir in your white beans.
• Bake for another 10 minutes. Check your sausages for doneness.
• Spoon over the top of brown rice.
• Enjoy!!