It almost didn't happen. My low-grade illin' coupled with my friend's mother-of-two fatigue almost conspired against us. But somehow I found the strength to stop in at Macelleria Venezia (my new favourite butcher) and pick up the sausages and chicken legs (it wasn't so hard to stop in at the liquor store and pick up the wine, somehow) and we managed to pull it together.
I left work late (due in part to an extended lunch--see my previous post) and only got to Veever's a little after five. Then there were offspring to feed and tread underfoot, mise to prepare, meat to deal with (thankfully, I'm not afraid of sausage and she's not afraid of chicken legs) and a recipe to faithfully follow. (We only diverged when we realized that not only did we not have herbs de provence, but we weren't exactly sure what they contained. We made due with a couple of dashes of basil/oregano/thyme plus extra fresh rosemary.)
The only false note, and it's barely off-key at all, is a mild over salting. But thanks to the old scientific method, I've seen the error of my ways, and this error will not be repeated (the recipe will). (I "salt and peppered" the chicken in the same way that I salt and pepper a roast. The issue here is the ratio of surface area to volume.)
The recipe, found through a simple search for something like, "navy beans recipe blog" or something to that effect, is courtesy of Stephanie (I think) over at Half Baked If she doesn't mind, I'll just post it here, for kicks, because I kind of want everyone that could possibly see this to give her a try.
Now, you may be questioning some of the steps. I understand. I did myself. But just don't. Just follow her recipe. She's done right by me and I swear she'll do right by you. Oh, and her recipe is originally from Chris Kimball's The Kitchen Detective, a book that clearly needs to be added to my library.
Quick Cassoulet
serves 4 to 6
Ingredients:
1 pound dried great Northern or Navy beans, rinsed and picked over
1 small onion, peeled and studded with 8 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 pounds sweet Italian Sausage, removed from casing and crumbled
6 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs (or 3 legs that have been separated into thigh and drumstick), rinsed and patted dry with paper towels
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 quart chicken stock
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Method:
Combine the beans*, clove-studded onion, bayleaf, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 10 cups of water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to maintain a simmer. Partially cover, and cook 45 to 60 minutes or just until tender. Fish out the onion and bay leaf and discard.*
Brown the sausage in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, breaking up any large pieces with a spatula. Remove with a slotted spoon to some paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown well on both sides, doing it in batches if necessary. Once browned, remove the chicken and let it sit cool down. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin (no rubbery skin in this cassoulet!)**
Adjust the heat to medium and add the olive oil to the pan. Add the chopped onion and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft - about five to seven minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional two minutes. Add the wine, and stir well to scrape up all the brown tasty bits stuck on the bottom of the pan. Add in the tomato paste and stir to combine.
Drain off the beans and add them to the Dutch oven along with the chicken, sausage, chicken stock and herbs de Provence. Bring the whole lot to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook covered for 20 to 30 minutes or until the chicken is done (when an instant read thermometer reads 165 in the thickest part of the thigh). Add the rosemary and cook for 10 minutes or more until the beans and chicken are very tender. If, at this point, the braising liquid is very thin, simmer uncovered for a few minutes more. Season to taste with salt and pepper.***
Serve immediately with chopped parsley and nice big hunks of rustic bread. Enjoy!
*The book says you can forego soaking the beans, but I soaked mine anyway.(We soaked ours too. Why not?) (Veever actually did this in advance, but there's no reason not to let them bubble away while you're doing everything else.)
**This is the step that I thought was silly. It's not. You get all the delicious chicken fat in the bottom of the pan and this is key. Do not omit this step. I don't care how tempted you are. We take no responsibility for any missteps that may result. Just don't salt the hell out of your poor chicken, like I did. (Incidentally, I had to add a teeny bit of olive oil while frying the sausage. For what it's worth (if you're following this recipe to the letter and all, I don't want you to be scared if your sausage isn't giving off enough fat.)
***We simmered the hell out of it for like two hours. With the amount of liquid this has you adding, it'll just be soup otherwise. You can decrease the amount of stock you add, but I vote for the longer simmer. All of the individual components of our cassoulet positively melted into something considerably greater than the sum of their parts. Oh, and obviously this could go in the oven and that would be wonderful and hands-free. Just adjust to suit your schedule.
Finally, I only got to Veever's a little after five, and I swear to god that dinner was on the table by 7:15, all the interim craziness notwithstanding. We could even have eaten a little earlier. So by no means an impossibility on a weeknight, my friends. All things are possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment