Cannellini Méditerranée
Mediteranean Medley
As a personal chef I'm always on the lookout for dishes that will be new to my clients, but not too new. Dishes that are somewhat exotic, but not too exotic. Dishes that are easy for me to prepare, but don't seem easy to prepare. And above all, dishes that freeze well. A couple of years ago I came up with one such dish.
I didn't start out to make something suitable for my clients, instead I had an urge for cassoulet but didn't want to take the time to make it. True cassoulet involves a multitude of ingredients, a lot of separate steps, and anywhere from one to two days (I even ran across a recipe once that took four days to prepare). Cassoulet is well worth the effort, but isn't a task taken on lightly. I wondered if I could make something more quickly that, although not up to the standard of a great cassoulet, would still be good. I looked up several cassoulet recipes and developed the recipe below. It far exceeded my expectations.
Don't think of this as a quick cassoulet, enjoy it as a good bean recipe in its own right. It's richly savory, has a nice herbal background, and the red pepper gives it a nice bounce. It's not too heavy for summer eating. Serve it with a hearty red wine, focaccia, and a green salad with a simple vinaigrette. (Note: I've published this recipe before, but it's so good I wanted to do so again.)
As a personal chef I'm always on the lookout for dishes that will be new to my clients, but not too new. Dishes that are somewhat exotic, but not too exotic. Dishes that are easy for me to prepare, but don't seem easy to prepare. And above all, dishes that freeze well. A couple of years ago I came up with one such dish.
I didn't start out to make something suitable for my clients, instead I had an urge for cassoulet but didn't want to take the time to make it. True cassoulet involves a multitude of ingredients, a lot of separate steps, and anywhere from one to two days (I even ran across a recipe once that took four days to prepare). Cassoulet is well worth the effort, but isn't a task taken on lightly. I wondered if I could make something more quickly that, although not up to the standard of a great cassoulet, would still be good. I looked up several cassoulet recipes and developed the recipe below. It far exceeded my expectations.
It's only dinner, but cooking makes honest people of liars, realists of dreamers, and well-ordered minds of chaotic and impulsive ones. ~ Molly O'Neill
Don't think of this as a quick cassoulet, enjoy it as a good bean recipe in its own right. It's richly savory, has a nice herbal background, and the red pepper gives it a nice bounce. It's not too heavy for summer eating. Serve it with a hearty red wine, focaccia, and a green salad with a simple vinaigrette. (Note: I've published this recipe before, but it's so good I wanted to do so again.)
Cannellini Méditerranée
2 19 oz cans cannellini beans
1/2 lb Italian sausage — cut into 1/2" slices
2 tbsp olive oil
1 md. yellow onion — diced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 smoked turkey leg — skin removed and diced
2 garlic cloves — minced
3 tbsp tomato paste
2 sprigs fresh sage
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
healthy pinch of red pepper flakes
1 - 2 c chicken broth
Heat oven to 300F.
Brown the Italian sausage in olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute).
Add all reamining ingredients to the pot along with just enough chicken broth to bring the liquid level with the other ingredients.
Cover the pot and place it in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the cover and continue cooking for another hour until a few beans began to split and release some starch into the broth for thickening.
Note: this is one of those dishes that improves with age.
Technorati: Food | recipe | beans | cannellini
Labels: beans, cannellini, food, recipe
6 Comments:
Kevin, that does sound incredibly delicious, as well as fulfilling all other necessary criteria. I've long been a fan of cooking things that are eminently freezable -- it's just simpler that way than to try to downsize every recipe, and then there's good stuff in the freezer for the nights when I just don't feel like cooking. I'm going to hang onto this recipe -- it sounds excellent!
Genie,
It was far better than I expected, and this time I made it with my homemade Italian sausage, which made it even better.
Ok...here's today's dumb question:
Does "1 smoked turkey leg — skin removed and diced" mean that you discarded the skin then cut off and diced the meat?
I'm wondering if the smoked turkey leg is added just to add flavor as the dish is cooked or if it's meat is meant to actually be part of the dish.
Thanks in advance for answering me and thanks for your site!
Long Time,
> Does "1 smoked turkey leg — skin removed and diced" mean that you discarded the skin then cut off and diced the meat?
Yes, exactly.
> I'm wondering if the smoked turkey leg is added just to add flavor as the dish is cooked or if it's meat is meant to actually be part of the dish.
The smoked turkey leg is included to provide flavor and a tad more meat. This is by no means a meat dish with beans. It's a bean dish with meat, but the meat is where most of the savor comes from. More meat would not be better, to my thinking, but less meat would be worse.
But reading between the lines of your message, no the smoked turkey isn't neccessary, but the smoke flavor is. You could probably substitute a high-quality smoked bacon or ham for the turkey. If you go that route the cut back on the Italian sausage so the pork flavor doesn't overwhelm the flavor.
Love it, Love it!
Sandi,
Yeah, it's a great recipe.
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