Veggie Heavy Cassoulet
Cassoulet is a classic French dish that is savory, hearty, and makes a perfect meal for cool nights and rainy days. White beans, tomato, and herbs create the basis for this simple and amenable meal. By amenable I mean you can use a variety of veggie and/or meat. My version includes carrots, onions, turnips, zucchini, and celeriac, which grow well in my garden and are always available in France (where I am at the moment). In the meat department, I like to use duck and sweet, lean sausage but you can choose pork shoulder, chicken thighs, or stew meat that won’t dry out when braised, along with your favorite sausage. You can also go veggie and leave the meat out altogether.
Make this as a meal and enjoy it for a few nights, you will not be disappointed. It also works well as a soup if you choose to thin the broth, which I will explain how to do, of course.
Gather up these ingredients and get to work.
1½ pounds duck breast, pork shoulder, chicken thigh, cut into 2-inch pieces
2½ teaspoons kosher salt
3 grated or minced garlic cloves
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound fresh pork sausage, pricked on all sides with a fork
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 leeks or onions (or both), trimmed, washed, and sliced
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengths
1 small celery root, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups (can substitute celery)
1 medium-size turnip, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups (can substitute cabbage)
1 small rutabaga, trimmed, peeled and diced, approximately 2 cups (can substitute daikon radish, kohlrabi, or broccoli stems)
2 medium zucchinis, cut into ½-inch pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups chopped tomatoes, with their juice (canned are fine)
¼ cup fresh chopped parsley leaves (double if cooking the beans)
2 sprigs rosemary, torn into pieces (double if cooking the beans)
2 sprigs thyme, torn into pieces (double if cooking the beans)
2 bay leaves (double if cooking the beans)
4 cups cooked white beans (canned are OK), drained and liquid reserved in any case
2 cups stock
2 cup dry red wine
1-2 cup bean cooking liquid, plus more as needed (if you want it more like a soup rather and a stew)
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
For Serving (optional)
2 cups of greens (radish, Swiss chard, mustard greens chopped) wilted in sweet butter
Now here’s what to do:
If you are cooking the beans yourself, soak them in cold water the night before. The next day, drain them, add them to a large stockpot and cover with 2 inches water. Add half the herbs, 2 garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons salt and pepper (and two whole cloves if you have them). Bring to a boil and then simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until beans are cooked through, 1 to 1½ hours. Add the sausage after 30 minutes. When beans are cooked, remove the herbs and reserve the cooking liquid, drain the beans and sausage.
Toss the cubed meat with the salt, garlic, ground clove, and pepper and let sit for 20 minutes to an hour. Cut the sausage into 2 inch pieces. Heat the olive oil a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the meat and sausage, and cook, turning as needed, until deeply browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat.
Turn the heat to medium and add the leeks or onions, carrots, celeriac, turnips, rutabaga, and zucchini; and sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, their liquid, wine, reserved bean liquid or water, and the remaining herbs and cayenne and bring to a boil. Add the beans, meat and sausage; bring to a boil again, stirring occasionally, then reduce the heat so the mixture bubbles gently but continuously. Cook for about 20-40 minutes, adding the liquid when the mixture gets thick and the vegetables are melting away. If you prefer soup to stew, add additional broth and more of the reserved bean liquid and salt to taste.
Server your cassoulet with greens wilted in sweet butter (I like radish greens but any greens will do) and crunchy French bread, like a baguette. Enjoy it with a glass of full bodied red wine, like Malbec (or the French version Cahors) or Syrah.
This dish gets better each days, so make enough for a second meal. Enjoy!