Friday Night's Cassoulet
My Cassoulet (not traditional!)
Yield : 8-10
Gluten free
There are meals made for wet cold weather, and too there are meals made from what is in the kitchen. This is how I made my first cassoulet, I had ham left over and well, there were beans in my pantry. I looked it up, realized I wasn't making it how it is originally made, but I thought it would be delicious nonetheless. And it was.
I have previously made it with sausage too, and that is really really delicious, but the sausage can leave a grainy mouth feel and that is less nice. Ham is a key ingredient, however, if you had pork, or just sausage, why not innovate?
I love to use chorizo because of the flavors it imparts to the oil before I cook the meat. It is sort of optional, but not for me, I used hot chorizo, again, you can use sweet, my poor Michel, he cannot stand too much heat in food, so I try to not use too much. If I did not have chorizo, I would probably flavor the oil with smoked paprika, paprika, cayenne and oregano. So remember that if you cannot find the chorizo, it is fine. More on chorizo here.
Another fun way to enjoy chorizo here at Jen’s Reviews Page.
About pulses (yes yes..beans, all kinds of beans!). They are so good for us, but for real, the only beans I knew for years were white navy beans and red kidney beans. I am having quite the adventure trying out all the other beans. I found that introducing them to my family wasn’t as hard I thought. First, I started adding some in soups, then mixing it up in my chilies, then went on to cassoulet, now I even make red bean curry! How yummy. So. More pulses for all! More on pulses here.
Have fun making this, use what you have, no need for anything fancy, do what feels good, season it well, serve it and love it!
INGREDIENTS:
Olive oil
1-2 chorizo sausage, spicy or sweet
1 lb chicken breast, cut up into bite size pieces
1 lb ham, cut into bite size pieces
1 large onion or ½ of a Spanish onion
2 (in total) red, yellow or green pepper
1 jalapeno
2 stalks celery
1 ½ lb. Italian tomatoes, diced
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tbsp. smoked paprika (any paprika will do)
3 15-oz. can white beans or mixed beans (Proper term is “pulses”, learn something new every day!)
2 bay leaves
Drizzle olive oil into a large Dutch oven and add the chorizo. Let the chorizo cook and color the oil, add chicken, cook 5 minutes, add the ham and cook another 5 minutes. In the meantime, dice the veggies approximately the same size.
Add to pot, stir around and let it cook 10 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on stove top for 45 minutes on medium low heat, or in the oven for 45 minutes also.
Serve with my delicious cheese bread or naan bread, tortilla chips work really well too, kids seem to prefer that. Bon appétit!
