Sausage and White Bean Cassoulet

, from Issue #49. May, 2016
Photography by Manja Wachsmuth.
Sausage and White Bean Cassoulet

This is the poor man’s version of a traditional French ‘Cassoulet’ using much more economical ingredients – no confit duck here. Use good, meaty sausages for the best flavour.

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

assorted sausages, I used 3 large pork and fennel, 3 Toulouse and 8 very small chicken and herb sausages
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stick celery, thinly sliced
2 bay leaves
100 grams bacon, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 x 400 gram tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 x 400 gram tin cherry tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
chopped flat-leaf parsley to serve or the parsley and garlic crumbs

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180˚C.

Heat an ovenproof sauté pan with a little oil and brown the sausages on all sides for 5 minutes. Remove to a plate. The sausages will not be fully cooked.

Wipe out the pan then add the olive oil, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves, bacon, garlic and rosemary. Season and cook covered for 10 minutes until the onion is soft, stirring occasionally. Stir in the mustard then the beans. Nestle the sausages into the beans then pour over the tomatoes and the stock. Season and gently stir everything together.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the sausages are cooked through and the top is golden and bubbling.

To serve: Scatter with the chopped parsley or serve with the toasted crumb recipe that follows.