“Yes, and…” one-pan(demic) improv cooking: White Beans with Sausage and Kale

White Beans with Sausage and Kale is the perfect pandemic dish—easy to make, infinitely adjustable based on what you have on hand and comfortingly delicious. Recipe and variations below.

THE FIRST THING THEY TEACH YOU IN IMPROV is the “yes, and” rule. When someone puts an idea out there, you don’t refute it. You agree and build on it. “Boy, it’s a beautiful day today.” “Yes, and as we continue to approach the sun, it just keeps getting brighter!” We’re applying “yes, and” thinking a lot in the kitchen these days.

The biggest daily improvisational challenges most of us face are cooking with what we have on hand, using up what’s nearing its “best by” date and—too often—cooking around what we don’t have. The white beans and sausage dish here, while it’s been in our rotation here since the before times, exemplifies this. I knew we had a couple of turkey Italian sausages on hand and suggested maybe doing the white beans and kale treatment of them. Marion said (essentially, if not exactly), “Yes, and… how about adding some of the cherry tomatoes taking over the garden?” And dinner improv had begun.

This dish has always been an improv of sorts for us. The one constant is white beans, preferably cannellini. That puts the dish in the vaguely Mediterranean/Italian/European camp. You can also use navy beans or great northern beans, but the larger size and meaty, nutty flavor of cannellini beans suits this dish.

The beans also serve to make the sauce. You blend one can with a little wine and water, then add to the pan. No thickening with flour or corn starch.

Most often, then animal protein for this dish is sausage—Italian sausage links (turkey or pork, sweet or spicy), or sometimes kielbasa. But you can also use whole bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, browned first, then finished in the beans. Or cut up boneless, skinless chicken thigh or breast meat. Or turkey meatballs.

For the greens, kale is our first choice if we’ve got it. Fresh spinach is also good, but it cooks down like crazy, so use more than seems sensible. We also use frozen spinach on occasion—that is already cooked down, so add the amount you want and give it a head start in the microwave with a little water.

Our go-to aromatics are onion and garlic. Shallots also work. Add some dried tarragon or oregano too. Or both.

And finally, the extras. Often, we add none. Sometimes, we’ll add sliced carrots, but those definitely need a head start in the microwave with a little water. For this particular batch, the “yes, and” cherry tomatoes were sublime.

Another aspect of pandemic improv cooking is the definition of what counts as a meal gets a lot looser. The other day, our friend Marco shared this: “Some days, just remembering ‘righty-tighty, leftie-loosie’ will feel like a victory. And that is SO okay.” Maybe he was referring to opening or sealing a jar, or perhaps replacing a light bulb or screwing on a garden hose. Doesn’t matter, the same phrase can be your guide, and he was totally right. All of everything right now has hit the reset button for most of us. Marion and I both cook, and usually, dinner is something pretty good. Sometimes, though, it is merely sustenance—and that is SO okay. I’m happy to report that, however you improvise when making it, White Beans with Sausage and Kale is something really delicious.