La Cocotte Verte

— Serves 6

Recipe courtesy of Luisa’s Catering

Tarbais beans are the traditional beans used for Cassoulet. They only come from a specific area in France, next to the city of Tarbes. They are preferred because some of the other types of white beans tend to break down, while these stay whole, making for a creamier Cassoulet without it becoming mush. Saucisse de Toulouse is also the traditional sausage used in Cassoulet but any one of your favorite “Fabrique Délices” sausages would be delicious.

*Items marked in green are available from The Gourmet Corner.

Suggested wine pairing: Domaine Chantepierre Cotes du Rhône 2009

Cooking the Beans

• 16 oz. (1 lb) haricots Tarbais
• 1 large Turkish bay leaf
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme and parsley
• Black peppercorns, tied in a piece of cheesecloth
• Half a large onion, studded with 2-3 whole cloves
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

Rinse the beans and soak overnight covered with plenty of water. The next day, drain the beans, and add them to a stockpot along with 12 cups water. Add the spices to the pot, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook partially covered up to 2 hours or until the beans are tender. Important: Do not add salt until after the beans are cooked. Adding salt before cooking will make the beans less tender. Drain beans, removing all onion, spices and carrots pieces. Cover and set aside.

Bread Topping

• 1 Tbs Échiré unsalted butter
• 6 thin slices of French bread, crusts removed, cut into cubes
• 1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

Place all ingredients in a food processor (or a blender) and pulse to fine crumbs. Set aside.

Cassoulet

• 2 ounces dried morel mushrooms (or other bold tasting
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 shallots, thinly sliced

wild mushroom such as porcini or chanterelles)

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb. cooked, drained Tarbais beans (see instructions above)
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 1.5-oz package “More Than Gourmet” Jus De Poulet Lie Gold – Roasted Chicken Demi-glace
• 3 cups water, including mushroom soaking liquid
• 1 package (1 lb) Fabrique Délices Saucisse de Toulouse (Toulouse Sausage), casings removed, cut into ½-inch slices
• 3 small spring onions, whites and greens sliced into ½-inch pieces
• ½ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
• Peeled & cooked French baby carrots for garnish, if desired

Preheat oven to 300 °F.

Soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup hot water for 10 minutes to rehydrate, then thinly slice. Strain the soaking liquid to remove any grit and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet (or dutch oven) over medium heat. Add the shallots, mushrooms, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the sausage and spring onions and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes, or until browned and the sausage is cooked through.

Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up all bits from bottom of the pan. Add the roasted chicken demi-glace and 3 cups of water (including the mushroom soaking liquid), stirring until the demi-glace is dissolved. Bring to a boil then lower the heat. Add the cooked beans and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, to taste (salt lightly, as the liquid does reduce quite a bit.) Simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat, stir in the parsley, then transfer into oven, uncovered, to bake for 1 hour, until most the liquid has been absorbed.

Remove from oven and discard the thyme sprigs. Turn the oven up to 350 °F. Top with the breadcrumb mixture and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until browned.

Plating

Spoon cassoulet into shallow serving bowls and garnish with additional green onions and baby carrots.

Tags: beans, carrots, cassoulet, mushrooms, sausages

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Entrees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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