Soup Swap Party; White Bean Soup with Greens and Homemade Italian Sausage

Soup Swap Party? What’s that? Do I have to cook? Does everyone bring soup to eat? That’s gonna be a lot of soup!

Whoa, slow down people.

A Soup Swap is where everyone makes six quarts of soup at home, puts it in 1 quart containers and freezes it. Everyone brings their frozen soup to the party, chats for a while while having drinks and snacks, and hears the “story of the soup.”  People then take turns picking different soups to bring home.  It’s a fun and easy way to get to try some new things and not get tired of your own cooking.

The Soup Swap party was conceived over a decade ago by Knox Gardner, who while living in Seattle, made big pots of soup but got tired of eating leftovers and decided to share with friends. Since then it has grown into a national movement and this year was the 5th Annual National Soup Swap event. You can read more about it at the soupswap.com

I first heard about the Soup Swap last year but could not get it together to have my own. This year I was reminded in this post by the Soup Chick where she explains how it works, offers some great ideas, and even recommends my Fresh Tomato Soup recipe.

A few weeks ago, I sent an email out to my nearest and dearest, and while all were included in the invitation, it turned into a Girl’s Night event with just the ladies attending. We held the party on a Sunday evening after dinner, so I served dessert; lemon pudding cakes, ginger-chocolate chunk ice cream (recipes coming soon), mini cheesecakes and butterscotch tapioca (made by my mom), and some savory scones which were a big hit (more on those in a later post too).

Besides my white bean soup, there were two different lentil soups, Italian wedding soup, butternut squash soup, chicken and dumplings, and a “friendly” chili. Since it was a small group, everyone went home with one of each of everyone else’s soup, so there was no fighting over favorites. Next year I plan to have more people attend.

If you’re interested in holding your own Soup Swap or participating in one, here are some tips:

• Get some quart sized (32 oz) disposable Tupperware; Glad and Ziplock brands are most common and can be found at places like Target and Big Lots ($2 for 4 containers).
• Make a BIG pot of soup
• Some recipes will need to be doubled
• Avoid making soups with a cream base; these don’t freeze as well. Soups with cream to be added on reheat are fine.
• If anyone needs ideas for soups, start by looking here.
• Allow the soup to get cold in the containers in the refrigerator before freezing.
• Label the soup and freeze (I find the labels stick better before freezing).
• If you’d like, write up the recipe and print out copies to share at the party.
• Bring the soup, frozen, to the party and be ready to describe it to everyone.

The soup I made to give away is one of my all time favorites. It’s typically made with escarole but I could not find it this week anywhere. Instead, I bought a bag of “Mixed Southern Greens” at Trader Joe’s which is a blend of mustard, turnip, spinach and collard greens and used those. You can use any greens you like.
I highly encourage you to try and make your own sausage with this dish; it’s simply ground pork with seasonings. You don’t even have to stuff the sausage mix it into casings. It’s as easy to make as it is to buy and take out of the casings.
If you want to make this soup vegan/vegetarian/low fat, simply leave out the sausage, sauté the vegetables in olive oil and cook the beans in vegetable stock.
Double the recipe below and you’ll have enough to give away at a Soup Swap and 2 quarts to keep for yourself.

Print Recipe

White Bean Soup with Greens and Homemade Italian Sausage

A recipe for white bean soup with greens and sausage and tips on throwing a Soup Swap party.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: beans, soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb. great northern beans soaked overnight
• 1 lb. Italian sausage removed from casing or made fresh
• 2 cups diced onion 1 onions= 3/4 lb.
• 3/4 cup diced celery 2 stalks= 4 oz.
• 3/4 cup diced carrot 2 carrots = 4 oz.
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic 3 small cloves
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. dried basil
• 3.5-4 quarts total liquid I used a mix of homemade chicken stock, vegetable stock and water
• salt and pepper to taste.
• 8 oz. greens mustard, turnip, collards, spinach or escarole

Instructions

• Soak the beans overnight, covered in enough water to allow them to expand.
• Heat a large soup pot over medium heat, add the sausage and break apart with a spoon into small pieces. Cook until done and browned and then remove from the pot with a slotted spoon. At this point, you can cook the vegetables in the fat from the sausage (I did, more flavor!) or clean it out and start fresh using a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  
• Into the soup pot with the hot fat or oil, add the onions and sauté over medium heat until they start to get soft, about 4-5 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and cook another 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and dried herbs and cook another two minutes. Add the sausage back into the pot along with the drained soaked white beans and stir to combine everything together.  
• Add enough stock or water to the beans to cover them by a couple of inches and bring to a simmer. Cook until the beans are tender, about 1.5 hours. Add more stock or water as needed to keep the texture “soupy.”  
• Before serving, add your chopped greens and stir them in until they wilt. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.