Cassoulet is a classic dish from the south of France. If you took the time to make it the traditional way, say, using a Julia Child recipe, you’d need several days, including soaking dried beans in a cheesecloth, goose fat and other specialty ingredients. That way’s delicious, but who has the time for it? When you boil cassoulet down to its essence, it’s a hearty bean stew with big flavors.
The first way to cut down on your cooking time is to swap dried beans for jarred. Our Great Northern White Beans are already cooked and ready to eat, so already you’ve reduced your prep time by a day. Then it’s a matter of combining simple, savory, rich flavors like Italian sausage, onions, leeks and wine with tender steak and cooking it together with your beans until the flavors have melded into a dish that will feel instantly familiar, even if you’ve never eaten it before. It does still need about two hours to bake, but the smell while the beans are doing their thing will just make you even hungrier.
Don’t forget to serve this with crusty bread and a big glass of sauvignon blanc.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian link sausage
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds round steak, cut into 1″ cubes
- 1 yellow onion, halved and sliced
- 2 large leeks, washed and sliced (including crisp green tops)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 1/2 cups of Randall Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1 10 1/2-ounce can concentrated beef broth
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Slice the sausage into 1/2″ pieces and brown in a heavy skillet. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined dish. Pour off the sausage fat.
Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to the skillet and brown the steak pieces, stirring to brown and sear them on all sides. Remove with slotted spoon to a side dish.
Add remaining olive oil to the skillet and quickly sauté the onion, leeks and garlic, just until leeks are wilted. Stir together the sausage, beef, onion mixture, tomatoes, beans, carrots, thyme salt and pepper.
Pour into a 3 quart baking dish. Stir in the beef broth and wine. Cover and bake in a preheated 350º oven for 1 1/2 hours or until beef is fork tender.
Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer.
Taste and correct the seasonings. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve hot with crusty French bread.
10 servings.
Leeks grow in sandy soil and the sand gets trapped between the leaves. To remove it, cut the leeks 3/4’s of the way through lengthwise. Hold under a stream of warm running water, pulling back the layers exposing them to the water. Soak in cool water and rinse again.
You can make this delicious dish with either our traditional Randall Great Northern Beans or Our Randall Organic Great Northern Beans.
