Dinner Tonight: Cassoulet

3/6/2012

Sylvia Manson-Righi has been making this recipe for cassoulet ever since she got it out of The Blade “years and years ago,” so we like to think of printing it again as recycling. “I just love the recipe,” she writes, but she has one warning: Follow the directions and do not overcook it. She did that once, she writes, and everything turned to mush.

Cassoulet

2 pounds Polish sausage, sliced

1 pound sweet Italian sausage, sliced

1 can (10½ ounces) condensed beef broth, divided

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

4 cans (20 ounces each) white kidney beans, drained

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place sliced sausages in dutch oven or large casserole. Add 1/4 cup undiluted beef broth and bake in oven for 10 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees. Add remaining broth and other ingredients except beans. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir in beans and bake uncovered 30 minutes longer.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

— Sylvia Manson-Righi