Lima Bean, Sausage, and Bread Soup

° Serves 4 (makes 6 cups)

Lima beans are the main ingredient in this soup, but it can be made with another kind of canned bean if limas are not to your liking. It is quite flavorful, hearty, and filling—and the ingredients are common enough that you might even have them on hand for quick assembly when unexpected guests appear. I keep kielbasa sausage in the freezer specifically for soups such as this, and I usually have some stale leftover bread or rolls that I can use as a thickening agent.

• 1 tablespoon corn oil
• 5 ounces kielbasa sausage, cut into ½-inch pieces
• 1 onion (about 4 ounces), peeled and sliced thin (¾ cup)
• One 16-ounce can lima beans
• 3½ cups Basic Chicken Stock or canned chicken broth
• 2 ounces dried-out bread or rolls, broken into pieces (about 1½ cups)
• Salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. When it is hot, add the sausage and onion and sauté, covered (to prevent splatters), over medium to high heat for about 3 minutes. Add the lima beans, with their liquid, the stock, bread pieces, pepper, and salt to taste and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and boil gently for about 2 minutes.

Stir the soup well and serve sprinkled with the parsley.

Use stale leftover bread or rolls in this simple, hearty soup.