Cassoulet gets better as it ages, so don’t be afraid of making too much food – With this Hunter’s Cassoulet recipe, you’ll have a full pot of tender meat and flavorful beans that you’ll gladly eat every night until you’re scraping the last bits off the bottom with thick, crusty bread.
6 chicken thighs, skin on
8 oz kielbasa or another smoked sausage
4 thick slices bacon, chopped
1 large onion, diced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 large stalk celery, diced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 19 oz cans White Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup Gewürztraminer
1 cup chicken stock
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs of thyme, stripped
2 sprigs marjoram, stripped
1 cup panko breadcrumbs divided
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Place a Dutch oven over medium/high heat. Add olive oil and bacon, stirring to ensure bacon doesn’t stick and fat evenly renders. Cook bacon till brown and crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain. Leave fat in the pan.
Season chicken thighs well with salt and pepper, then place in Dutch oven skin side down. Allow to sit untouched until they are well browned and can easily be flipped over without sticking to the pan- about 5 minutes. Flip over and brown the other side the same way, then remove to a plate and set aside. Add sausage and brown for five minutes, then remove to the plate with the chicken.
Drain the fat from the pan, then pour back in just enough to coat the bottom. Add onions, celery, garlic, and carrot and cook until tender, then add the wine to deglaze the pan, making sure you scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom. Add bay leaf, thyme and marjoram, beans and chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper and stir well. Mix in ½ of the Panko breadcrumb, then add chicken, bacon, and sausage back into the pot. Cover and bring to a boil, then turn off heat.
Place dutch oven on the lower rack of the oven and bake 2 hours, then uncover the pan and bake for another 30. Sprinkle the remaining breadcrumb across the top and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let rest for at least 20 minutes before serving.
Suggested Wine Pairing:
Cave De Ribeauville Gewürztraminer Collection Alsace, France, 2015. $15
