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Mom’s Quick Cassoulet
Served with a green salad
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Serves 4
Prep time: 20 minutes Total time: 50 minutes |
- 1 bunch flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
- 1 bunch sage
- 1 bunch thyme
- 4 medium yellow onions
- 1 head winter lettuce (escarole, curly endive)
- 1 shallot
- Two 15 oz. cans white beans (such as cannellini)
- 1-1/2 cups dried bread crumbs
- 1-1/2 lbs. ground pork
- 1-1/2 cups Vermouth, or Sauvignon Blanc
- 1 loaf crusty bread
Shopping List
- Bay leaves
- Black pepper
- Dijon mustard
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves
- Red wine vinegar
- Sea salt
- Unsalted butter
Pantry Items
- 9X13 baking dish
- Bread knife
- Chef’s knife
- Heavy skillet
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowls
- Nonstick fry pan
- Paring knife
- Salad spinner
- Spatula
- Strainer
- Whisk
- Wooden spoons
Tools
- Wine: Sauvignon Blanc
- Dessert: Fresh fruit and macaroons or other cookies.
- You’ll have some leftover cassoulet for lunch.
Suggestions
- When you walk in the door
- Don’t refrigerate the pork
- Preheat the oven to 400F
- Get out Pantry Items
- Get out Tools
- Assemble the ingredients
- Open the wine and pour yourself a glass
- Prep
- Rinse and pat the parsley. Pluck 1 cup leaves.
- Pluck 6 good-sized sage leaves.
- Strip 2 tsps. leaves from the thyme sprigs.
- Peel and dice the onion.
- Peel and mince the garlic.
- Peel and thinly slice the shallot.
- Discard any damaged lettuce leaves. Separate the rest of the leaves from the head, rinse and spin them dry then tear into large bite-size pieces.
- Put the pork in a good-sized mixing bowl.
- Measure 2 tbsps. butter.
- Open the beans, turn them into the strainer, set in the sink and rinse them.
- Start Cooking
- Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in the large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat with the onions. Stir. When the onions start to sizzle, stir, lower the heat to medium, and cook until they soften, 7 minutes.
- Mince the sage leaves and add to the pork, along with the thyme leaves. Sprinkle with a good amount of salt and pepper and mix everything together with your hands or a spoon.
- Add the garlic to the onions, stir, season with some salt and pepper and cook for 4 more minutes, stirring once in a while.
- Add the pork to the onions, breaking it up into small pieces and cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While the pork is cooking, put the 2 tbsps. butter in the nonstick fry pan over medium-high heat. When it’s foaming, add the bread crumbs and stir until they’re golden 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Mince the parsley and mix it into the breadcrumbs.
- When the pork has cooked for 8 minutes, remove the pan from the heat. Carefully stir the beans into the pan,
- Pour the mixture into the baking dish.
- Tuck 2 bay leaves into the bean mixture. Pour in the Vermouth, sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top and put in the oven to bake for 20-30 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are crisp and everything is cooked.
- While the cassoulet is baking, make the salad dressing. Put the shallot in a large bowl with 1 tbsp. vinegar and 1 tsp. mustard. Add a big pinch of salt, then whisk in 1/4 cup olive oil. Taste for seasoning.
- Set the table, slice the bread and take it to the table.
- Check the cassoulet – if it’s nice and crisp on top, it’s cooked!
- Quickly whisk the vinaigrette, add the lettuce and toss, toss, toss. Take the salad and the cassoulet to the table. Don’t forget a hot pad, and the wine!
