White bean cassoulet
Author: 
Recipe type: french
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 3 Tbls olive oil
  • 20 cloves of garlic
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 2 carrots diced
  • 4 stalks of celery diced
  • 1 herb bouquet tied with string: 4 stems of fresh rosemary,4 stems of fresh oregano( or 1 tsp of dry)8-10 fresh stems of fresh thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 6 cups drained cooked great northern white beans or any firm white bean(approx. 3 cups dried soaked beans overnight and cooked for an hour)
  • 8 cups of chicken stock
  • ½ cup white wine
  • 4 links of spicy merguez or chicken sausage
  • ½ cups spinach pesto
  • 6 slices of diced bacon
  • 4 diced tomatoes
  • Garlic crostini:
  • 1 baquette
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese
  • spinach pesto:
  • ½ bunch spinach
  • 5 cloves minced garlic
  • ½ cup toasted walnuts
  • 11/2 cups olive oil
  • ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 tsp salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place the rack in the middle
  2. Heat up creuset or dutch oven pot on the stove and add diced bacon to cook until crisp
  3. Add diced onion, garlic, carrot,celery, herbs
  4. Add cooked beans along with 8 cups of chicken stock and white wine
  5. Stir in diced tomates and bring to a simmer on the stove
  6. Once bubbling, place in preheated oven to bake at least 2 hours until liquid reduces by at least half
  7. Grilled sausage:
  8. Lay out sausage and prick with a fork and cook under broil for approx. 10 mins. for colour.
  9. Cut sausages in half and place on top of stewing beans an hour into baking time.
  10. Spinach pesto:
  11. Chop spinach and add to blender
  12. Gradually add olive oil until well blended
  13. Add garlic,walnuts, cheese , salt and pepper
  14. Combine all ingredients in a blender until pureed smooth.
  15. Put in a bowl and leave to rest
  16. Garlic parmesan crostini:
  17. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  18. Slice baquette into 24 slices
  19. Drizzle bread with olive oil
  20. Spread crushed garlic onto each slice and sprinkle with parmesan cheese
  21. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until bread is browned but not burnt
  22. Remove from the oven and set aside until beans are ready
  23. Continue to check beans until almost all the liquid has been absorbed.
  24. Sometimes this can take up to 3 hours depending on how well cooked the beans are.
  25. Remove creuset pot from the oven and serve beans with sausage placed on top, a dollop of pesto with a crostini placed on top.
Recipe by Hand Made Health at https://handmadehealth.net/white-bean-cassoulet/