This Ina Garten Cassoulet recipe is easy, quick, and made with duck or chicken legs, breadcrumbs, olive oil, fresh thyme leaves, and clarified butter and takes around 4 hours and 30 minutes to cook to perfection. Serve your Cassoulet with roasted duck fat potatoes, sautéed spinach, braised red cabbage, arugula salad, and lemony celery crunch salad for a well-rounded meal.
To make this Cassoulet, Ina starts by preheating the oven and preparing a breadcrumb mixture with duck or chicken skin. She then sears the meats, sautés the veggies, and combines everything in a roasting pan. After baking for about 3 hours, she thickens the liquid and broils the dish with the breadcrumb topping.
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Ina Garten Cassoulet Ingredients
4 duck or chicken legs, cut into two pieces
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup + 1/8 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons clarified butter
3 pounds boneless lamb leg or pork shoulder
1 pound Polish or bratwurst sausage
1 1/2 cups large dice Spanish onions
1 1/2 cups large dice carrots
1 1/2 cups large dice celery
4 fresh tomatoes, large dice
1 cup dry white wine
5 cups water or chicken bouillon
1 pound navy beans, soaked overnight
1/4 cup fresh marjoram leaves, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
6 bay leaves
Salt and ground black pepper
How To Make Ina Garten Cassoulet
Preparation: Preheat your oven to 375°F. Trim excess skin from duck or chicken and dry it in the oven for about 15 minutes. Blend the dried skin with breadcrumbs, olive oil, and 1/8 teaspoon thyme leaves. Set aside.
Searing the Meat: Heat clarified butter in a heavy-bottomed pan. Sear duck, lamb, and sausage until browned. Transfer them to a large roasting pan.
Cooking Veggies: In the same pan, sauté onions, carrots, and celery until browned. Add tomatoes, wine, and water. Bring to a boil.
Combine and Bake: Drain soaked navy beans and add them to the pan with herbs. Pour this mixture over the meats in the roasting pan. Cover and bake for about 3 hours, or until meat is tender.
Final Touch: Remove meat, and drain liquid from beans and veggies. Blend some of the mixture to thicken the liquid. Adjust seasoning. Lay sliced meat on beans, sprinkle breadcrumb mixture, and broil until the top is lightly browned.
What To Serve With Cassoulet
For a well-rounded meal, consider pairing your cassoulet with side dishes like roasted duck fat potatoes, sautéed spinach, or braised red cabbage. Lighter options could include a celery salad or an arugula salad. If you’re looking for something unique, try serving the cassoulet over a cauliflower steak.
How To Store Cassoulet
In The Fridge:
Store the cassoulet in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. Make sure it has cooled down to room temperature before sealing it to maintain the best quality.
You can freeze cassoulet for up to 2-3 months. Place it in a freezer-safe container, leaving some space for expansion. Thaw it in the fridge before reheating.
How To Reheat Cassoulet
To reheat the cassoulet, place it in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 20-25 minutes, or until it’s heated through. You can also reheat it on the stovetop over low heat, stirring occasionally to ensure even warming.
This Ina Garten Cassoulet recipe is easy, quick, and made with duck or chicken legs, breadcrumbs, olive oil, fresh thyme leaves, and clarified butter and takes around 4 hours and 30 minutes to cook to perfection. Serve your Cassoulet with roasted duck fat potatoes, sautéed spinach, braised red cabbage, arugula salad, and lemony celery crunch salad for a well-rounded meal.
Ina Garten Cassoulet Ingredients
How To Make Ina Garten Cassoulet
Preparation: Preheat your oven to 375°F. Trim excess skin from duck or chicken and dry it in the oven for about 15 minutes. Blend the dried skin with breadcrumbs, olive oil, and 1/8 teaspoon thyme leaves. Set aside.
Searing the Meat: Heat clarified butter in a heavy-bottomed pan. Sear duck, lamb, and sausage until browned. Transfer them to a large roasting pan.
Cooking Veggies: In the same pan, sauté onions, carrots, and celery until browned. Add tomatoes, wine, and water. Bring to a boil.
Combine and Bake: Drain soaked navy beans and add them to the pan with herbs. Pour this mixture over the meats in the roasting pan. Cover and bake for about 3 hours, or until meat is tender.
Final Touch: Remove meat, and drain liquid from beans and veggies. Blend some of the mixture to thicken the liquid. Adjust seasoning. Lay sliced meat on beans, sprinkle breadcrumb mixture, and broil until the top is lightly browned.
You can serve cassoulet on its own with a salad and bread on the side, but it's traditional to accompany it with something colorful . . . usually greens of some sort. If you're looking for a great meal to prepare for the colder weather, try making a cassoulet.
Originating in the South of France, cassoulet is a profoundly hearty peasant dish that typically includes white beans, duck (or goose) confit, and sausage, through specific preparations vary from town to town. It also is supposed to take a couple of days to put together, as the flavors of the meat develop slowly.
If you cannot find Toulouse sausage, the closest substitute would be a garlic or herb-flavored sausage, such as a German bratwurst, or the classic Chipolata sausage which has just a smaller diameter as it is made with natural sheep casing instead of hog.
Seafood cassoulet introduces a lighter variant. When choosing wine, consider the dish's main ingredients: robust meats pair well with full-bodied reds like Syrah or Malbec. If the cassoulet includes seafood, opt for a fuller white wine like Chardonnay.
Convention has it that the cassoulet of Castelnaudary is based largely on pork and pork rind, sausage, and (sometimes) goose; the Carcassonne variety contains leg of mutton and (occasionally) partridge; and the cassoulet of Toulouse includes fresh lard, mutton, local Toulouse sausage, and duck or goose.
There are three types of cassoulet – the Holy Trinity. There's the 'Father' (pork and goose), the 'Son' (mutton and partridge), and the 'Holy Ghost' (sausage, mutton, and duck).
a dish of white beans cooked slowly in a small amount of liquid with meat and herbs, originally from France: I went there for a Sunday supper and they were serving cassoulet.
All the ingredients for a good cassoulet can be found in most grocery stores. Purists will argue that you need to find real tarbais beans but I have found white kidney beans work just as well. They will mention that there are 3 versions of true cassoulets (Castelnaudary, Carcassone, and Toulouse).
Great Northern and cannellini beans make fine substitutes for the Tarbais, flageolet and lingot beans used in France. Then give yourself over to the rhythm of roasting, sautéing and long, slow simmering.
Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To reheat, transfer it into a small baking dish, top with more breadcrumbs, and bake in a 350ºF oven until heated through and the breadcrumbs are browned. You can also freeze cassoulet in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Usually Toulouse sausage is most commonly used in traditional french cassoulet, a sausage made from a blend of pork and duck meat. Chicken breast – I used boneless and skinless chicken breast but thighs can be substituted if that's all you have. Salt & pepper – To taste.
Red wines are often considered the best pairing for cassoulet. The hearty and rich flavours of the dish can be balanced with the tannins and fruitiness of the wine, and the acidity can also help to cut through the richness of the dish, providing a well-balanced and satisfying pairing.
The southwest of France, where cassoulet originates, offers both. My favourite pairing is Marcillac, which tends to be lighter, but you could go for a Madiran or an old-school Cahors rather than the sweet-fruited style that mimics Argentinian Malbec.
I need to get one thing off my chest right away: While you can use duck confit (or even goose) to make cassoulet, you don't have to. Here, I offer the option of plain old chicken thighs or raw duck legs.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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