French Cassoulet - Baked Beans, Chicken & Sausage

The Chef is a Francophile. I like movies by Jean-Luc Godard, ye-ye pop music by Serge Gainsbourg, pommes frites (yes, French fries), and Cassoulet: a slow-cooked hearty bean dish.

One of my early L.A. jobs in the Biz was as a videotape editor. Lunch was often in a neighborhood restaurant run by a charming French couple. My favorite dish was a comforting plate of Cassoulet. It reminded me of a rustic home-cooked all-in-one dish: a bean casserole version of Mom's Cajun rice dish, Jambalaya.

A classic Cassoulet is made with confit duck legs, sausage, and white beans. I've yet to find duck for 99c or less a pound but chicken quarters from a local Latin market do fine; as for sausage, 99c only Stores always carry it.

A French mirepoix of veggies includes onion, garlic, bell pepper, carrot, and celery. They will sweeten this stew with slow cooking on the stovetop and in the oven.

For a vegetarian version, you can add more large-cut veggies (carrots, potato) and leave out the meat, (okay to add vegetable stock for extra flavor.) but still bake it and top it with bread crumbs -- baking sweetens and intensifies the flavor of veggies and beans.

 Cassoulet can be a clean-out-your-refrigerator-of-veggies dish (I like to add more veggies than normal recipes call for).

On a cold winter day, try out this simple baked bean entree that tastes even better reheated the next day. The 99 Cent Chef's Cassoulet would make Julia Child proud.

Ingredients (serves about 4) 

• 1 lb. package of Navy beans (white) for 99.99 cents
• 8 cups of water (according to package directions.)
  
• 1 cup 99.99c white wine or vegetable broth - optional.
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp. dried thyme or any favorite fresh or dried herbs.
• 1 each: whole onion, bell pepper, celery stick, and carrot chopped (optional, just whatever veggie you have on hand, including tomato.)
• 2 cloves garlic - peeled and chopped, or 2 tbsp. crushed garlic.
• 2 chicken leg quarters or any favorite chicken pieces including breast, leg, thigh, and wings.
• One 12-16 oz. package 99.99 cent hot links or favorite sausage
• Salt and pepper to taste

*A nice touch is to add a layer of bread crumbs (about 1/2 cup) on top during the oven baking.

Directions For Beans
Soak beans overnight in 8 cups of water (or add an extra hour of cooking time to unsoaked beans). Add an extra hour of beans simmering if you do not presoak beans (about 3 to 4 hours total.)

In a large pot (I have one that doubles for baking), add white wine (optional,) chopped veggies, herbs, bay leaf, garlic, salt, and pepper. 

Bring beans to a boil, cover, and continue cooking over low heat until beans are tender about 2 to 3 hours. 

Lately, I've been adding greens. Add these when you start baking the sausage and chicken for quick-cooking spinach or Swiss chard. For slower cooking collard or mustard greens, add during the last hour of simmering beans.

Directions To Finish By Baking
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add chicken and sausage to cooked beans. 

Cooked uncovered in the oven for about an hour and a half until chicken is done (double check by piercing with a fork and juices run clear,) and liquid is thickened. 

I bake the chicken skin side up and I add a pinch of salt and pepper to the top of the chicken pieces. That way the skin is crispy and well-seasoned when done. You can also remove the skin for a lighter Cassoulet.

The sausage may need to be turned if it starts to blacken or brown too much.

If you top it with bread crumbs during baking, the sauce will thicken nicely.

Cassoulet freezes fine, so don't let the large amount deter you. And it's the type of meal you can return to the next day -  it will be even better!