Best Cassoulet Oh Yeah Comfort Recipes

CHEAT'S FRENCH CASSOULET - CROCK POT OR LE CREUSET

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet - fry the bacon until nearly crisp & then add the onions, garlic, & carrots. Cook over a high heat until they are just soft on the outside & turning a golden colour. Drain well & remove from pan. Add to crock pot or Le Creuset casserole dish.
• Add sausages and brown - remove & add to onion mixture.
• Add pork chop pieces & brown - remove and add to above mixture.
• Make up chicken stock and add wine. Mix tomatoes in with stock & teaspoon of sugar.
• Pour stock and tomatoes over the cassoulet in crock pot or le creuset - add bouquet garni & give everything a good stir!
• Add the beans and stir well again.
• Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and cook for up to 6 hours on high in crock pot or in le cresuet for 3 hours in a slow oven with the lid on, 150C/300°F.
• Half an hour before serving, take lid of le creuset to brown the top. It's difficult to brown in a crock pot, but it's not that essential to brown the top, as the reason behind the breadcrumbs is to soak up some of the juice & make a crust on top! If your crock pot is the type which you can put under the grill, then do so!
• Serve with mountains of fluffy mashed potatoes & stir-fried Savoy Cabbage.
• NOTE ON SAUSAGES:.
• Try to use very good quality high meat content sausages; in France Toulouse sausages are mainly used - they generally have a meat content of at least 85%. Good quality English style sausages are also good - I have a recipe posted for some English sausages: Recipe #190045.
• However, any kind of sausage can be used and in the past I have used: Choritzo, Italian Style, Chipolatas etc.
• The Pork chops can be replaced with chicken pieces, lamb steaks or Confit D'Canard - preserved duck, if you are lucky enought to have some!

HOW TO MAKE CASSOULET

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.

EASY FRENCH CASSOULET WITH WINE, BEANS, SAUSAGE, HAM AND HERBS

Steps:

• In a large oven-proof skillet such as a Le Creuset or Dutch oven cook sausage, onion, and garlic over medium-low heat until meat is lightly browned and onion is tender; drain off fat.
• Add ham, parsley, and bay leaf; mix well. Stir in undrained beans, wine, and cloves.
• Bake, covered, at 325°F for 45 minutes.
• Uncover and bake 40 to 45 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf.
• Serve in bowls with butter and a baguette or hot corn bread, if desired.
• Makes 6 servings.

COMFORT POT ROAST (FOR THE CROCK POT)

Steps:

• Put 2 tablespoons water in bottom of crock pot.
• Place carrots in crock pot.
• Combine paprika, onion soup powder, garlic powder and pepper (making a dry rub).
• Rub into roast, coating all sides.
• Place roast in cooker.
• Sprinkle 1/2 of the remaining soup mix over roast.
• Layer sliced onions on top.
• Sprinkle with remaining soup mix.
• Spoon cream soup over top.
• Cook low 8 to 10 hours.

CASSOULET OH YEAH COMFORT

Steps:

• Soak the Cannellini beans in water overnight.
• Drain and top with salted water and bring to a boil then simmer for an hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Remove skin from duck and place in a large frying pan fat side down to render the fat. When crisp and cooled break into bite size pieces and set aside.
• Remove the meat from the bones and break into bite size pieces.
• Place the bones in a pot cover with salted water and simmer.
• In a 6 1/2 quart dutch oven brown bacon and sausage.
• Remove meat from pan. When cool enough to handle slice into bite size pieces.
• Caramelize the paste in the dutch oven. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil or duck fat add the onion, carrots, celery, and jalapeno if using. Cook for 8 minutes.
• Stir in herbs. Season with salt and pepper.
• Top with the meats, tomatoes, and the strained beans.
• Give a good stir. Add enough of the simmered duck stock or water to cover the beans. Place lid on and bake for 1 1/2 hours stir and check to see if additional stock is needed.
• Bake for 1 hour more. Check beans for tenderness continue baking if not done to your liking.
• Remove from oven stir a taste seasoning with additional salt and pepper.
• Reduce heat to 350 degrees.
• Remove the crisp skin of the duck from the frying pan.
• To the fat add 2-4 tablespoons butter and the bread crumbs and brown a couple minutes.
• Top the cassoulet with half the crumbs and bake uncovered for 15 minutes.
• Top with rest of bread crumbs and place under broiler to crisp and brown.
• Crumbled duck skin can be sprinkled over the cassoulet or.
• sprinkle on a side of a crisp salad.