Cassoulet With Lots of Vegetables

5.0(530)

Cassoulet is one of the best of the myriad of traditional European dishes that combine beans and meat to produce wonderful rich, robust stews. This recipe maintains that spirit, but is much faster, easier, less expensive, and more contemporary, emphasizing the beans and vegetables over meat. (That probably makes it more, not less, traditional, since meat was always hard to come by before the mid-20th century.)

by Mark Bittman

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FrenchDinner, Lunch, Main Course

Servings

(4–6)

Total time

40 min

Calories / serving

362 kcal

Ingredients (15)

serves

2 tablespoons olive oilolive-oil
1 pound Italian sausages, bone-in pork chops, confit duck legs, or duck breasts, or a combinationsausage
1 tablespoon chopped garlicgarlic
2 leeks or onions, trimmed, washed, and slicedonion
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch lengthscarrot
3 celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch piecescelery
2 medium zucchinis or 1 small head green cabbage, cut into 1/2-inch piecescabbage
Salt and freshly ground black peppersalt-and-pepper
4 cups chopped tomatoes, with their juice (canned are fine)tomato
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley leavesparsley
1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme leavesthyme
2 bay leavesbay-leaf
4 cups cooked white beans (canned are OK), drained and liquid reserved in any case
2 cups stock, dry red wine, bean cooking liquid, or water, plus more as needed
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to tastecayenne

Instructions (3 steps)

01Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the meat, and cook, turning as needed, until the meat is deeply browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat.
02Turn the heat to medium and add the garlic, leeks or onions, carrots, celery, and zucchini or cabbage; and sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, their liquid, the reserved meat, and the herbs and bring to a boil. Add the beans; bring to a boil again, stirring occasionally, then reduce the heat so the mixture bubbles gently but continuously. Cook for about 20 minutes, adding the liquid when the mixture gets thick and the vegetables are melting away.
03Fish out the meat and remove the bones and skin as needed. Chop into chunks and return to the pot along with the cayenne. Cook another minute or two to warm through, then taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and serve.

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Rich recipe — supports nutrition-aware planning.