Easy French Cassoulet and Tannat Wine from Uruguay

Easy French Cassoulet and Tannat Wine from Uruguay

Our easy French cassoulet recipe takes all the rich flavors of traditional cassoulet in a dish that is easy to make in just a few hours. This cassoulet is a chicken, white bean, and Italian sausage casserole that is slow-cooked and wonderfully flavorful. True comfort food.

Ingredients

• 1 lb dry navy beans, soaked overnight in salt water and drained
• 2 Tbsp duck fat (or unsalted butter)
• 4 chicken leg quarters (legs and thighs)
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausages (pork)
• ½ lb thick cut bacon, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3-4 c chicken stock (we prefer low sodium)
• 2 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 c breadcrumbs

Instructions

• Place the soaked and drained beans in a medium pot and cover with 2 inches of water. Cover the pot and bring the beans to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the beans are just barely tender, 20 minutes.
• While the beans are cooking, heat the duck fat in a 5-6 quart Dutch oven.
• Over medium high heat, sear the chicken leg quarters until golden brown on both sides. Remove the chicken from the Dutch oven and set aside on a plate.
• Sear the sausages until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
• Add the diced bacon and cook until crisp. Remove and set aside.
• Remove about half of the fat from the Dutch oven. Add the diced carrots, onion, celery, and garlic. Sauté until softened and lightly golden.
• Add 2 cups of chicken stock to the veggies in the Dutch oven and deglaze the pan, scraping up any stuck bits with a wooden spatula.
• Preheat your oven to 325F.
• Drain the beans from their cooking liquid and add them to the Dutch oven. Add the parsley, thyme, bay, salt and cooked bacon. Mix well.
• Return the sausages and chicken to the pot, nestling them as evenly as possible among the beans. Add as much of the remaining stock to the dish so that you can see moisture peeking through the ingredients at the top.*
• Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over top of the dish and place it in the oven, uncovered to bake for 1 hour.
• After 1 hour, remove the dish from the oven and press down any breadcrumbs that haven’t been moistened. If the dish looks too dry on top, you can add a bit more chicken stock (or water). Return the dish to the oven to bake, uncovered for another 1 hour.
• After the second hour, again remove the dish from the oven and break up the top crust to moisten the breadcrumbs. Return the dish to the oven to bake, uncovered, for 1 final hour.
• After 3 hours of cooking time, remove the dish from the oven and let it rest, uncovered for 20 minutes.
• Serve warm.**