White Bean Cassoulet with Smoked Ham and Sausage
This is extremely hearty, nutritious, and filling. Double the recipe for a family of 4-5.
1 lb. package, dried, Great Northern White Beans
4 links Sweet Italian Sausage
For the Garniture:
Olive Oil
1 Vidalia Onion, peeled, diced into 1 cm cubes, ends retained for stock
2 large Carrots, peeled, diced into 1 cm cubes
Few sprigs of fresh Thyme, picked and finely minced
2 cloves Garlic, peeled, finely minced
1 large Red Bell Pepper, seeded, diced into 1 cm cubes, ends retained for stock
1/2 cup Smoked Ham, diced into 1 cm cubes
Pre-cooked, pre-diced sausage links
Kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Cayenne, use sparingly
Smoked paprika
Knob of butter
For the Stock:
Water
1 quart Pork Stock (homemade) or vegetable stock *see notes*
2 large Carrots, peeled, halved once into large sticks
1 Onion, peeled and halved
2 large Bay Leaves
Any retained ends of Onion and Bell Pepper
1. Soak dried white beans overnight in slightly more than double their volume in water. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F, coat the sausage with a bit of oil and place on a sheet tray lined with foil. Cook until golden brown, turning twice, approx. 20 minutes. Let cool, dice into 1/2 inch pieces, and reserve for the next day.
2. The next day, drain and rinse the bean water. Add new cold water in a pot with the beans to cover them by 2 inches. Bring to boil, drain, rinse beans, and refill the pot with enough water to barely cover the beans this time.
-The first boil will remove much of the gases held within the beans that cause flatulence-
3. Top off with pork stock (or vegetable stock) so that there is approx. 2-3 inches of total liquid covering the beans. Add any vegetable scraps you have such as onion ends, bell pepper ends, large chunks of carrot, and the bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and keep there until tender enough to consume the beans without using your teeth, but not super mushy (approx. 2 hours uncovered).
-You're essentially reinforcing the cooking liquid with vegetable flavor, which will concentrate the taste of the final product.-
4. Meanwhile, preheat a large saute pan. When hot, add a bit of olive oil and wait until hot. Proceed to add the onion, carrot and thyme, stirring constantly over medium heat so that they become tender and soft without acheiving any color or browning. This is called sweating.
5. Season to taste with salt, pepper, cayenne, and smoked paprika. After 5 minutes, add the garlic and bell pepper. Continue to sweat the vegetables. After 3 minutes, add the diced smoked ham and sausage.
6. Correct seasoning once again, turn off heat, and stir in a knob of butter.
7. When the beans are done, discard the large pieces of carrot, onion, bay leaves, etc. from the stock/cooking liquid. Drain some of the cooking liquid so that the beans look sort of like a stew, sitting in approx. 1.5 to 2 inches of stock. Add the garniture to the beans and stir. Correct seasoning for a final time.
-I made pork shoulder for pulled pork earlier in the week. That is where I got the pork stock. You can use vegetable stock instead, or experiment with some combination of water, stock, and a bock beer or dark lager.-
And the recipe and instructions on the rim of the bowls is not far off from how I actually make it!
