You cannot pick up a magazine or newspaper without seeing a recipe for cassoulet this time of year. Cassoulet, a dish indigenous to the Languedoc region of France is hardly considered healthy.
The dish consists of duck, beans, sausages and lots and lots of duck fat. A hearty meal, but hardly heart healthy!
A few days ago we invited our doctor and her husband over for a Sunday dinner. What is a busy caterer to serve?
I wanted the meal to be delicious, winter warming, healthy and allow me to enjoy our guests.
Well, after reading several recipes, I came up with the following recipes, which divides the cassoulet into two dishes, instead of one and replaces the duck and duck fat with organic, free range, bone-in chicken.
Add crudites to the hors d’oeuvre hour and berries for dessert and you certainly have a meal fit for your doctor. Sante!
Menu
Serves 4 with lots of left-overs
Crudites with Low Fat Dip*
Chicken Confit and Cannellini
Beans
Sauerkraut & Chicken Sausage
Salad
Berries*
*Recipe Not Given
Chicken Confit and Cannellini Beans
Beans:
1 1/2 cups cannellini beans
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic
2 Bay leaves
1. Four days before you plan on serving the cassoulet, start to make the beans by soaking them in water, to cover, plus 2” in a cool spot overnight.
2. The next day, drain beans in a colander and rinse. This helps remove a lot of the gas producing enzymes)
3. Place beans in a slow cooker and cover with water, plus 2”. Add remaining ingredients. Cook on high for 3 1/2 hours.
4. Check every 1/2 hour to see if beans are cooked. When cooked, drain and set aside, for later use.
Chicken Confit:
5 skin-on, bone-in chicken
thighs and drumsticks
Kosher salt, freshly
ground pepper
1 head of garlic,
halved crosswise
2 large shallots, halved
4 springs thyme
1/4 cup olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper and place in a small Dutch oven or other heavy pot. Arrange garlic, shallots and thyme around chicken, drizzle oil all over. Bring to a very low simmer over medium-low heat, cover and transfer to oven.
2. Cook until meat is very tender, 2 hours. Flip chicken and cook 2 hours longer. Let cool in oil, preferably overnight. (I put my pot outside in Mother Nature’s refrigerator)
NOTE: Chicken can be cooked 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.
3. Approximately 3 hours before serving the cassoulet:
Cassoulet:
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat 1/4 cup oil from chicken confit in a large skillet over medium flame. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft, 10-12 minutes. Squeeze garlic cloves from chicken confit from their skins into skillet and add tomatoes, crushing with your hands.
2. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add beans..
3. Skim off remaining fat from chicken confit, discard the fat, and pour juices (about 1/2 cup) into skillet (reheat fat in pot just enough to loosen juices underneath, if needed). Bring to a simmer, season with salt and pepper.
4. Transfer bean mixture to a 2 – 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Nestle chicken into beans, leaving as much skin exposed as possible then tuck shallots around. Cook until chicken skin is very crisp and cassoulet is nicely browned, about 2 hours.
