Chickpea & Sausage Stew

Taste: ***
Difficulty: Easy
Cleanup: Quick

I made this very easy stew recipe tonight.  Other than the sausage required for the recipe, you likely have all the ingredients in your cabinet and freezer — an excellent quality in a weeknight recipe.

The recipe is a little vague on type of sausage, but I used hot Italian turkey sausage.  As you know, I like a little heat!  I used the frozen spinach, as the recipe calls for, but next time might try with fresh spinach.

I toasted some bread brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with parmesan cheese in the broiler which was the perfect accompaniment to this tasty stew!

Chickpea & Sausage Stew
Real Simple

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 12 ounces Italian sausage, thawed and casings removed
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 10-ounce package frozen leaf spinach
• kosher salt and pepper
• 8 slices bread, toasted (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 7 minutes.

Add the sausage and cook, crumbling it with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 8 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in the parsley and cilantro and cook for 1 minute more.

Add the broth and chickpeas and bring to a boil. Add the frozen spinach and simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally with a fork to separate the leaves.  Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Divide the toasted bread, if using, among individual bowls and spoon the stew on top.