Two Bean Cassoulet Recipes

Steps:

• Wash the beans well and put them in a large stockpot. Add water to the beans to cover by 2 inches and set over high heat. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes, remove from the heat, cover and let stand 1 hour.*
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Put the duck sausage on a baking sheet and place it in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and let cool. The sausage will not be fully cooked through.
• Add the whole onion, whole carrot, 2 of the thyme sprigs and 3 of the bay leaves to the beans. Add more water to the pot to cover again by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and let simmer until the beans are mostly tender but with still a little bite to them, about 50 to 60 minutes. The beans will have soaked up all most all of the liquid you cooked them in.
• Meanwhile, pour the olive oil into a large skillet and place over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook stirring every now and then until crispy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon remove the crispy bacon pieces to a paper towel lined plate and reserve. To the same skillet, add the diced onion, sliced carrots and garlic and sweat the mixture for 20 minutes, until the onion begins to turn translucent.
• Slice the duck sausage on the bias into 1/2-inch thick pieces and add them to the vegetable mix. Add the remaining bay leaves, thyme sprigs and sliced kielbasa and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Next add the wine, beef broth, tomato paste and salt and pepper. Raise the heat to high, bringing the mixture to a boil. Stir well to dissolve the tomato paste and lower the heat. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
• Remove the whole onion and carrot from the beans, add the vegetable sausage mixture to the stockpot and return to a low heat. Stir well and cover. Let the cassoulet simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until most of the wine mixture has been absorbed by the beans. Spoon into a casserole dish, sprinkle the top of each serving with some of the reserved crispy bacon and serve with a crusty baguette on the side.

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a medium stock pot. Add the vegetables to the oil, stir frequently, and cook until lightly brown around the edges. Add remaining ingredients, except sausage, 1 at a time. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir in sausage and allow to cook for 10 more minutes. Place in bowls, spoon 1 tablespoon of pesto and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sausage into each bowl. Serve with Garlic-Parmesan Crostini.
• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Season the sausage with salt, to taste, and carefully place in a single layer across the skillet. Cook the sausage for 3 to 5 minutes over medium-high heat or until browned. Turn the sausages and repeat on opposite side. Remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice into 1/4-inch slices.
• Combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Heat the oil in a small skillet. Add the garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until garlic begins to brown. Remove from heat. Brush the garlic oil on the top and bottom of each slice of bread. Place the bread in a single layer over a sheet pan. Sprinkle each slice with parmesan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes on the middle oven rack until bread browns over the top. Serve.

Steps:

• To cut the meats, roll up the pork rind like a Swiss roll. With the seam underneath, use a very sharp knife to cut the roll across into thin slices, then chop the rolled-up slices across into dice. Chop the bacon into small cubes (lardons). Cut the garlic sausage into 1cm thick slices.
• Drain the soaked beans and discard the soaking water. Tip the beans into a large saucepan, add the diced pork rind and lardons and cover with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil and blanch for 15-20 minutes. Drain the beans, rind and lardons into a colander, and discard the cooking water.
• Roughly chop the celery, onion and carrot. Peel the garlic cloves but leave them whole. Cut each tomato into eight wedges. (You never see tomatoes in a traditional cassoulet, but chef Raymond Blanc likes them for their colour and sweetness, so he puts a couple in.) Preheat the oven to 120C/fan 100C. (If cooking in a gas oven, use mark 2.)
• Heat the goose fat or olive oil in a 26cm flameproof casserole or deep overproof sauté pan over a low heat and sweat the celery, onion, carrot and garlic for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bouquet garni and cook slowly to get a sugary caramelisation (about 5 minutes). Add the sausage, beans, pork rind and lardons and pour in 1.2 litres/2 pints water. Bring to the boil, skim off the scum, then add the salt, pepper, clove and lemon juice.
• Transfer the casserole to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring every hour. At the end of this time, the beans will be soft and creamy in texture and the juices should have thickened. You may need to cook it for longer than 2 hours (say up to 2½ hours) to get to this stage - it depends
• Remove the cassoulet from the oven. Bury the duck legs in the beans and sprinkle over the goose fat or olive oil, breadcrumbs and garlic. Return to the oven and cook for a further 2 hours. Serve the cassoulet in bowls, sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Steps:

• In a medium skillet cook sausages in oil over moderate heat, turning them, until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 8 minutes, and transfer to paper towels to drain.
• In fat remaining in skillet cook onions and garlic, stirring, until golden, and stir in herbs (including bay leaf), scallions or parsley, tomatoes with juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Boil mixture, stirring, 5 minutes. Cut sausage into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Add sausage and beans to tomato mixture and cook, stirring, until heated through. Discard bay leaf and keep "cassoulet" warm, covered.
• Make topping:
• In a small skillet heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté bread until pale golden. Stir in garlic, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste and sauté, stirring, 1 minute.
• Transfer "cassoulet" to a 1-quart serving dish and cover evenly with topping.

Steps:

• In an ungreased 3-qt. baking dish, combine all ingredients. Cover and bake at 350° for 60-70 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaf.

Steps:

• In a large skillet, brown the chicken thighs in hot oil over med-low heat for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally.
• Remove chicken from skillet; reserve drippings in skillet.
• Add carrots, onion, and garlic to skillet; cover and cook about 10 minutes or just until the carrots are tender, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in drained beans, tomato sauce, wine, thyme, and allspice; stir in sausage.
• Transfer to an ungreased 2 quart casserole dish.
• Place chicken on top.
• Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.
• If desired, sprinkle tomatoes and parsley over the top.
• Bake about 5 more minutes or just until the tomatoes are heated through.

Steps:

• Soak Great Northern beans in water in a large bowl overnight. Drain beans and place into a large soup pot. Push whole clove into the 1/2 onion and add to beans; stir in garlic, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, and 10 cups water. Bring beans to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat until beans have started to soften, about 1 hour. Drain beans and reserve the cooking liquid, removing and discarding onion with clove and bay leaf. Transfer beans to a large mixing bowl.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cook bacon in a large, heavy Dutch oven over medium heat until lightly browned and still limp, about 5 minutes. Stir celery, carrots, and 1/2 diced onion into bacon; season with salt. Cook and stir vegetables in the hot bacon fat until tender, about 10 minutes.
• Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat; brown sausage link halves and duck confit in the hot oil until browned, about 5 minutes per side.
• Season vegetable-bacon mixture with 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, cracked black pepper, and herbes de Provence; pour in diced tomatoes. Cook and stir mixture over medium heat until juice from tomatoes has nearly evaporated and any browned bits of food on the bottom of pot have dissolved, about 5 minutes. Stir mixture into beans.
• Spread half the bean mixture into the heavy Dutch oven and place duck-sausage mixture over the beans; spread remaining beans over meat layer. Pour just enough of the reserved bean liquid into pot to reach barely to the top of the beans, reserving remaining liquid. Bring bean cassoulet to a simmer on stovetop and cover Dutch oven with lid.
• Bake bean cassoulet in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add 4 crushed garlic cloves, panko crumbs, and parsley to the melted butter. Season with salt and black pepper, and drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over crumbs. Stir to thoroughly combine.
• Uncover cassoulet and check liquid level; mixture should still have several inches of liquid. If beans seem dry, add more of the reserved bean liquid. Spread half the crumb mixture evenly over the beans and return to oven. Cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes. There should be about 2 or 3 inches of liquid at the bottom of the pot; if mixture seems dry, add more reserved bean mixture. Sprinkle remaining half the bread crumb mixture over cassoulet.
• Turn oven heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake cassoulet, uncovered, until crumb topping is crisp, edges are bubbling, and the bubbles are slow and sticky, 20 to 25 more minutes. Serve beans on individual plates and top each serving with a piece of duck and several sausage pieces.