Delishuss Blog

I tried this recipe this evening. It’s another one of Jamie Oliver’s 30 minutes meals. I thoroughly recommend this one. I’ll let you in on a little secret, I didn’t have any tinned tomatoes in stock so I had a jar of Gordon Ramsey’s pasta sauce in the press, so I used that.  Either way this recipe is awesome.

Serves 4-5

INGREDIENTS

CASSOULET
• 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
• 1 1/2 red onions
• a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 1/2 a small bunch of fresh sage
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 2 leeks
• 400g good-quality chipolata sausages
• 3–4 thick slices of bread
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 x 680g jar of passata
• 1 x 390g carton of butter beans
• 1 x 390g carton of haricot beans

BROCCOLI
• 400g tenderstem broccoli
• 1/4 of a small red onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 ripe plum tomatoes
• 1 lemon

METHOD

CASSOULET

• Slice 4 rashers of bacon about 1cm thick and add to a sturdy roasting tray with a few lugs of olive oil. Put over a high heat.
• Halve, peel and slice 1½ red onions.
• Pick the rosemary and most of the sage leaves and sprinkle into the tray with the bay leaves, keeping a few sage sprigs back for later.
• Trim the leeks and peel back the outer leaves. Cut down the length of the leeks, then wash away any grit and finely slice. Add the leeks and onions to the tray with a few splashes of boiled water, stir, then leave to soften.
• Lay the sausages in another roasting tray, drizzle and rub a little olive oil over them, then put under the grill to cook for 8 minutes. Stir your vegetables.

BROCCOLI Put a small saucepan on a high heat. Trim and discard the ends of the broccoli.

CASSOULET

• Tear the slices of bread into large chunks and put into a food processor with a pinch of salt & pepper, ½ of the reserved sprigs of sage, 2 cloves of garlic and a good drizzle of olive oil. Pulse until you have fairly even, coarse breadcrumbs.

Stir the passata and the beans and their juices into the tray of vegetables.

BROCCOLI

• Peel and coarsely grate ¼ of a red onion into a mixing bowl.
• Crush over 1 clove of garlic.
• Halve the 2 plum tomatoes, discard the seeds, then carefully grate them, flesh side down, through the coarse grater. Discard the skins left behind.
• Add a couple of lugs of extra virgin olive oil, season carefully then squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon and mix.

CASSOULET

• Take the sausages out of the oven.
• Sprinkle half the breadcrumbs from the food processor over the veg and beans.
• Lay the sausages dark side down and sprinkle over the rest of the breadcrumbs.
• Pick the rest of the sage leaves, drizzle with olive oil and scatter on top.
• Put the roasting tray into the oven on the middle shelf for around 4 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are crisp and golden.

BROCCOLI

• Put the broccoli, stalks down, into a pan of boiling water and put the lid on.
• Cook for a couple of minutes, or until tender.

TO SERVE

• The broccoli should be tender by now, so drain it, then scatter on a platter and spoon over the dressing.
• Toss quickly, and take straight to the table.
• Remove the cassoulet from the oven and take to the table with a nice bottle of red wine.

Notes: I couldn’t get chipolate sausages, so I got some cumberland sausages instead and cooked them in the pan for longer. I also couldn’t find haricot beans so I popped in some cannellini beans.

I’m not a big fan of broccoli, so I used green beans instead.