Welcome to My Newsletter

For now, I'm calling it "Bradlee Few: Recipes and Musings" because that is mostly what it will be, but we'll see if the name sticks

I’ve already published my first recipe (chicken tortilla soup last week), but I want to officially welcome you to my newsletter and start by introducing myself. I love to cook elaborate meals for friends and family on Sundays, make something easy for myself on the weekdays, throw parties for every occasion, roam the farmer’s market and buy cool vegetables I don’t know what to do with, send old-fashioned hand-written thank you notes, read thrillers, and dream about table settings. I’m also figuring out how to arrange the perfect vase of flowers, starting my art collection, and learning how to make less of a mess in the kitchen. Most of the time, I work in finance in New York City.

I am excited to share my recipes and ideas about food, hosting successes and failures, and other musings on all things home and kitchen (one day, I’d love to add garden to that list - that’s how I'll know I’ve made it in New York).

Send me your feedback, thoughts, and ideas - I am figuring this out as I go! My goal for now is to share a newsletter once a week, I hope you’ll join me.

Recently, I started sharing on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube as well. Follow me at bradleefew on all platforms.

Recipe of the Week: Big Pot of Brothy Beans

This is a no-recipe recipe for a bowl of beans, sausage, and greens for warmth and comfort on these cold winter days

Ingredients

4-5 servings | 12 hours prep | 1 hour active cooking

• ~1 cup of any dried beans you like (I like to use Great Northern beans or Cannellini beans), soaked in salted water overnight (~12 hours) then drained

  • Can also use canned beans, drained and rinsed, to skip the soaking step and shorten the recipe time to just an hour start to finish

• 1/2 lb. spicy Italian sausage

  • This recipe is endlessly customizable, you can use cured salami, chicken sausage, bacon, etc.

• 1 qt. chicken stock (or more if you want it broth-ier)

• 1/2 a yellow onion, whole

• 3-4 bay leaves

• 1 parmesan rind

  • Tip: I keep a bag in my freezer of all the rinds from my finished blocks of Parmigiano Reggiano, so I can easily drop a rind into soups, braises, etc.

• ~1 cup of any leafy greens you have on hand (I typically use frozen kale for this)

• Salt and pepper

• To serve: freshly shaved parm and a toasted piece of crusty bread for dipping

Put It All Together

1. Crumble sausage into pieces and sautée until browned

   1. For most pork-based sausages, you don’t need to add oil to the pan, the sausage fat will render as it cooks and create a great base of flavor for the soup

2. Stir in the beans, stock, onion, bay leaves, parm rind, and salt and pepper to taste

3. Simmer until beans are tender (typically an hour depending on the type of bean and whether you soaked them before cooking)

4. Once beans are tender, stir in greens until lightly wilted

5. Remove onion, bay leaves, and parm rind

6. Serve in bowls topped with a sprinkle of Parm and black pepper, with toasted bread on the side

7. Leftovers freeze well and reheat beautifully for a quick meal in a pinch