Best French Cassoulet Clay Cooker Recipes

FRENCH CASSOULET

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Trim the excess skin from the duck or chicken and place on a lined baking sheet. Dry the trimmed skin in the oven, checking often, until crispy, about 15 minutes.
• Add the skin to a food processor along with the breadcrumbs, oil and the 1/8 teaspoon thyme leaves and blend until uniform. Set aside. (This step can also be done while the cassoulet is stewing).
• Heat the clarified butter over high heat in a heavy-bottomed saute or frying pan and, working in batches, sear the poultry, pork or lamb and sausage until they are caramelized, adding more butter if the pan gets dry. Remove the meats to a large roasting pan or deep broiler-proof baking dish as they are completed.
• In the same pan you browned the meat in, saute the onions, carrots and celery until they are caramelized. Add the tomatoes, wine, and 5 cups water, deglazing the pan by scraping all the loose particles from the bottom of the pan.
• Drain the beans and add them to the pan, along with the marjoram, parsley, bay leaves and 1/4 cup thyme. Bring the liquid to a boil.
• Pour the beans and liquid over the meats in the roasting pan, cover the pan tightly with foil if no lid is available and bake until the meat is fork-tender and the beans have absorbed most of the liquid and are tender, about 3 hours.
• Remove the meat from the pan, drain the liquid from the beans and vegetables and put it into a saucepan.
• Add two cups of the cooked bean and vegetable mixture to the liquid and puree with an immersion blender or puree in a blender before adding to the liquid. This will thicken the liquid into a sauce.
• Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Pour the liquid back over the remaining beans and vegetables, stirring to combine.
• Preheat the broiler.
• Slice the lamb or pork and lay it on the beans with the sausages and poultry legs. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture on top of the cassoulet and broil until the top is lightly browned.

EASY AND DELICIOUS SLOW COOKER CASSOULET

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook bacon until crisp and brown, turning often, about 10 minutes. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels; crumble when cool. Set bacon aside.
• Cook and stir onion in the same skillet until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken, sausage, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, and black pepper; cook until chicken pieces are browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in tomato paste.
• Transfer chicken mixture to a slow cooker and stir in crumbled turkey bacon, great Northern beans, and diced tomatoes. Cover the cooker, set on Low, and cook until cassoulet is thickened and the chicken is very tender, 4 to 5 hours. Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

SLOW-COOKER CASSOULET

Steps:

• Combine beans, crushed garlic, onion, carrots, tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves and meats in a slow cooker, and turn heat to high. (If you like, brown sausage and duck legs in a skillet before adding.) Add stock or water to cover by 2 inches. Cover and cook until beans and meats are tender, 5 to 6 hours on high heat, 7 hours or more on low.
• When done, add salt and pepper to taste, along with minced garlic. If you like, remove cassoulet from slow cooker, and place in a deep casserole; cover with bread crumbs and roast at 400 degrees until bread crumbs brown, about 15 minutes. Garnish and serve.

FRENCH CASSOULET CLAY COOKER

Steps:

• Place beans in 4 cups water in deep bowl; let stand 8 hours or overnight. Or, heat beans and 4 cups water in 2 quart saucepan, to boiling, boil briskly 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand covered 1 hour.
• Soak top and bottom of 3 1/4 quart unglazed clay cooker in water about 15 to 20 minutes; drain.
• Combine beans with liquid, lamb, onion, carrot, garlic and thyme in clay cooker. Stir in tomato sauce. Insert bay leaf and ham hock in center.
• Place covered cooker in COLD oven. Set oven at 375°F (190 C). Bake, stirring once or twice, until ham, lamb and beans are tender, about 3 hours.
• Cut sausage into 1 1/2 inch pieces; pierce each piece with fork.
• Heat butter and oil in frying pan; stir bread crumbs in oil mixture until well coated.
• Remove ham hock from cooker. When cool enough to handle, discard bones and skin; cut meat into chunks. Return meat to cooker. Stir in sausage. Sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs.
• Bake uncovered until sausage is hot and bread crumbs are crisp and brown, about 35 minutes.
• Clay Cookery.