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Daily Archives: February 24, 2014

My Take on Cassoulet

A favorite one pot meal. Cassoulet. With all sorts of options and the ability to use what you have hanging around in your fridge.

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Served with an excellent local Big Cork Chardonnay. The last one, so it must be time to head up to Frederick for a few more bottles.

This dish came together because I had leftover chicken breast and garlic sausage. About 6 ounces of chicken breast and the same amount of a fresh kielbasa. They were both main elements of last weekend’s meals.

Start with the base.

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Olive oil heated in the pan. Added one sliced yellow onion and a handful of scallions sliced. Half of a green pepper. Three roma tomatoes, sliced. Half dozen cremini mushrooms. Other than the scallions, the rest of this dish was in last week’s delivery from Friends and Farms.

When the vegetables are soft and the onions translucent, add the sausage and chicken. Deglaze it all with a splash of white wine and some stock. Empty a drained can, or two if you like beans, of either cannellini or Great Northern beans. Some fresh basil, slivered. A couple of cloves of roasted garlic, smashed, or a teaspoon of garlic powder. A teaspoon of herbs de Provence. A little salt and white pepper. A teaspoon of tomato paste.

Put everything in a low setting in the oven. I use the slow cook setting, which is 250 degrees. For about an hour for all the flavors to meld.

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This picture is the before the oven photo. The plate up top is the “brown” version. It may not be the prettiest dish out there, but it definitely tastes wonderful.

You don’t need duck to make cassoulet. It works just fine with chicken. Not a bad mostly locally sourced meal.

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