Best Ham Bean Cassoulet Recipes

TRADITIONAL FRENCH CASSOULET RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cover beans with 3 quarts water and add salt. Stir to combine and let sit at room temperature overnight. Drain and rinse beans and set aside.
• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Place stock in a large liquid measuring cup and sprinkle gelatin over the top. Set aside. Heat duck fat (if using) in a large Dutch oven over high heat until shimmering. Add salt pork and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned all over, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a large bowl, leaving rendered fat in Dutch oven, and set aside. (If not using duck fat, cook pork with no additional fat.)
• Season chicken pieces with pepper (do not add salt) and place skin side down in now-empty pan. Cook without moving until well-browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Flip chicken pieces and continue cooking until lightly browned on second side, about 3 minutes longer. Transfer to bowl with salt pork.
• Add sausages and cook, turning occasionally, until well-browned on both sides. Transfer to bowl with salt pork and chicken. Drain all but 2 tablespoons fat from pot.
• Add onions to pot and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook until onions are translucent but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add drained beans, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, bay leaves, cloves, and stock/gelatin mixture. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce to low, cover Dutch oven, and cook until beans are almost tender but retain a slight bite, about 45 minutes.
• Using tongs, remove carrots, celery, parsley, bay leaves, and cloves and discard. Add meats to pot and stir to incorporate, making sure that the chicken pieces end up on top of the beans with the skin facing upwards. Beans should be almost completely submerged. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered, until a thin crust forms on top, about 2 hours, adding more water by pouring it carefully down the side of the pot, as necessary, to keep beans mostly covered.
• Break crust with a spoon and shake pot gently to redistribute. Return to oven and continue cooking, stopping to break and shake the crust every 30 minutes until you reach the 4 1/2 hour mark. Return to oven and continue cooking undisturbed until the crust is deep brown and thick, about 5 to 6 hours total. Serve immediately.

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.

CROCK POT CASSOULET

Steps:

• FOR THE CASSOULET: In slow cooker stoneware, combine ham hock and beans.
• In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots and celery and cook, stirring, until softened. Add rosemary and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Transfer mixture to slow cooker stoneware. Add chicken stock to cover beans. Cover and cook on LOW for 10 to 12 hours, until beans are tender. It would be better to do this the night before.
• In a bowl, combine salt, garlic, peppercorns and thyme. Rub mixture into pork. Place pork in a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350°F On a plate, combine cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Roll lamb shanks in mixture and place, narrow end up, on a broiling pan. Scrape excess salt from the marinated pork shoulder and place on same broiling pan. Roast in preheated oven for 1 hour.
• Remove Ham hock from beans. Remove tough skin and shred meat. Discard skin and bone. Cover and refrigerate meat. Stir tomato paste and bay leaves into bean mixture.
• Cut roasted pork into 1 inch squares and add along with lamb shanks to bean mixture. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours. Remove lamb shanks from mixture and scrape meat from bones. Discard bones and return meat to beans. Stir in kielbasa and reserved meat from ham hock. (See Tips) Transfer mixture to baking dishes, if necessary.
• BREAD CRUMB TOPPING: Preheat oven to 350°F In a bowl, combine ingredients. Sprinkle over cassoulet and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour.
• TIPS: Using the slow cooker to make cassoulet makes it a manageable project. Cook the beans and marinate the pork overnight. The next morning, continue cooking as directed.
• This is a large quantity of cassoulet, and when the sausage and ham meat is added, it may not fit comfortably in the slow cooker stoneware. I have a gargantuan baking dish, Mexican in origin, that I use for the final assembly You may need to transfer the bean mixture to two large baking dishes before adding the bread crumb topping. If you are serving this as a dinner dish and have enough pottery, consider spooning the cassoulet into individual serving size ovenproof tureens. Add the topping and bake as directed.
• MAKE AHEAD: This dish can be partially prepared the night before it is cooked. Complete Steps 1 and 3, cooking beans overnight. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, continue cooking as directed. Serves 12.
• Delicious & Dependable Slow Cooker Recipes.

SMOKED HAM HOCK CASSOULET

Steps:

• Place the beans and the water in a large pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover partly and simmer until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Drain and set aside. Heat the oil in a large, wide ovenproof pot over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and onions and saute until golden, about 7 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Stir in the tomatoes, thyme, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the beans, sage and wine. Add the ham hock bones, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the bones from the pan and stir in the meat. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top and dot with butter. Bake for 15 minutes. Divide among 6 plates and serve.