White Beans with Pork Sausages (Rome)

Meat

Ingredients

Italian Pork Sausages - 6 oz

Dried white beans, soaked overnight - 4 cups

Salt

Lard - 4 tsps

Ham fat, finely chopped - 4 tbsps

Garlic, finely chopped - 1 clove

Parsley, finely chopped - 2-3 sprigs

Onion, finely chopped - 1 small

Tomato paste - 2 1/2 tbsps

Pepper

Scrape the sausages and put them into a large pan of cold water. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Throw out the water, rinse the sausages in cold water and return them to the pan. Add the beans, cover generously with water and bring to a boil again. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 hours, or until the beans are tender. Add salt to taste.

Melt the lard with the ham fat in a large pan and saute the garlic, parsley and onion gently until the onion begins to brown. Dilute the tomato paste with 1 cup warm water taken from the beans, add this to the onion mixture, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 30 minutes longer.

Drain the beans and sausages, transfer them to the other pan and stir well. Cook over a moderate heat for another 30 minutes so that they absorb the flavor of the sauce. Serve very hot.

Serves 6