Sunday Dinner: Faux Cassoulet

There is something about what I loosely refer to as "Frenchy peasant cooking" that makes Sunday evenings at home feel really special, but totally comfortable and relaxed. Something about cooking these meals together really makes our apartment feel like a home.

This is one of my favorite meals and something that I cook that Lane actually emphatically enjoys eating. I had him do all the chopping this time and it came out much prettier. Lane's knife skills are bananas.

Faux Cassoulet (adapted from Serious Eats)
1 T. olive oil
4 sweet Italian sausages
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 handful of Italian parsley, chopped
2 t. fresh thyme leaves
salt & pepper
1 1/2 c. bread crumbs (I used the canned pre-made kind because we still don't own a food processor)
1/4 lb. bacon, sliced into lardons
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
1/2 c. dry white wine
2/3 c. chicken broth
2 15 oz. cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Brown the sausages in 1 T. olive oil. Combine bread crumbs, half the parsley, approximately one clove of garlic, 1 t. thyme and a healthy glug of olive oil in a small mixing bowl and set aside.

Once the sausages have been completely browned on both sides, remove from them pan, set aside and add the bacon to the pan, cooking until golden brown. Add the onions, salt and pepper to taste, and cook for two minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another two minutes. Add the tomatoes and crank the heat to high.  Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes are just starting to stick to the pan. Add the wine and repeat. Add the broth, the remaining parsley and thyme and the beans. Cook for one minute and transfer to a shallow baking dish.  Top the mixture with the sausages and cover with the breadcrumbs.

Bake, with a cookie sheet beneath the dish to catch any overflowing liquid, for twenty minutes. The sides of the dish will be bubbling and the breadcrumbs will be golden brown.

Enjoy with a mixed herb salad, white wine and Sunday night television.