Making Cassoulet 916 to ring in 2018
In honor of the coming year and, more honestly, to satisfy my love of bean stew I decided to make a tasty batch of my version of a French classic, cassoulet. I invented the following recipe after reading through several recipes for traditional French Cassoulet. Even then, with a written recipe that I wrote and love, I am always open to on-the-fly changes. Because life happens.
There is no formula to life so go forth and take life as it comes at you.
It’s not really cassoulet, but it’s close enough, so get over any notions of perfection with this recipe or anything I, you, or anyone else does in life. This entire recipe should be followed while listening to groovy tunes that make you happy. For me that’s house/dance/nudisco music.
Advance planning for a happy future: You really do need to have some foresight if you want to at least aim for a decent future. The same goes for a pot of beans. You need to soak those bad-boys at least overnight and ideally for 18-24 hours to get them ready for prime time. This is also the time to review the recipe and all the steps involved.
Jeli’s Cassoulet 916
2 cups dried beans
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 medium white onion, diced
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp + dried thyme
10 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 carrot peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 TBS tomato paste
2 Italian sausages or equivalent
2-3 duck confit legs, however many come in one package, meat separated from bone and chopped
1 cup white wine
salt & pepper to taste
Do you have everything, do you know the timing and steps? Good. now you can relax and wait for tomorrow. Maybe open that bottle of wine and enjoy but make sure you leave a full measuring cup of wine for tomorrow!
Variety is the spice of life: The traditional French cassoulet uses white beans. Great, you can go try that at any fine dining establishment. For me, I enjoy textures and colors so I go for a bean mix. The best I’ve found in my area is an heirloom bean mix by Pereg Gourmet Natural Food labeled as a Texas Chili mix. It’s a blend of “small red beans, black beans, pinto beans, cranberry beans and navy beans”. I find it at Nugget Market.
So take a bag or 2 cups of beans of your choosing and soak them in cool water for at least 12 hours. If you are a pre-planning ninja, you’ll have them soaked for at least 18 hours. AND if you like really like living on the edge I invite you to create your own bean mix. Just NEVER add lentils.
Hygiene is everything: Before you start cooking, drain the beans into a colander and rinse them well. A good thorough shower is a highly advised way for anyone to start their day!
Carpe Diem: Yep, just jump into that recipe
In a LARGE deep skillet or wide pot sauté half that onion in 1 TBS of olive oil, until translucent. Add beans, stock, herbs and garlic. Simmer covered for about an hour.
Follow your instincts and improvise as you go: I had some leftover French Onion Soup so I used that to make up the 4-cup total of chicken stock that the recipe calls for. How could that be anything but amazing in this dish?
Honor your needs: Looking at the skinny stalk of celery I realized that I’d like a little more than that to go into my stew so I cut up a second stalk. YES!! YOU CAN DOOWUTCHYALIKE! Add the celery, carrots and tomato paste into the pot and stir well, put the lid back on and let that simmer for another 30 minutes.
Success often requires getting your hands dirty: This means that it’s time for you to take those duck confit legs out of their tidy bag and rip the meat off the bone. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is and how satisfying it can be to do. Throw away cartilage or fat that you don’t want and dice the meat. Set aside.
The unexpected joy in not having what you think you need: Take the remaining half of the chopped onion and sauté it in the other TBS of olive oil for about 3 minutes. Or you can use bacon fat. Early in my cooking adventure this morning I realized I was almost out of extra virgin olive oil. Whoops! Oh well, I always keep bacon fat on hand so I grabbed that and used it. It’s definitely much more decadent and pleasing than olive oil! Add the sausage, break it up and cook until lightly browned. I used bulk Italian sausage this time. If you use individual uncooked sausages be sure to take the sausage out of the casing before you try to cook it.
Always make time for wine: Add in the duck then stir in the wine. Feel free to add another pinch of thyme. Scrape the pan with your wooden spatula to make sure you loosen all those golden brown bits of gold-medal flavor.
Add the meat to the beans and mix well. Adjust for taste with salt and pepper. If you’re lucky like me today I didn’t need either!! Bring back to a simmer for another 30 minutes covered or uncovered, to your desired consistency.
Why not: I had some fresh parsley lying around so I chopped it up and threw it in. Not part of the recipe but not a bad idea.
You’d better check yourself before you wreck yourself: Check to make sure your beans are done before you call it a day. Different beans require different cooking times.
Share meals with friends. It makes the food taste even better. Looking forward to sharing this hearty meal with friends from near and far.
Peace, health, prosperity and love to you all for 2018!
