Sausage & White Bean Cassoulet

Lamb & White Bean Cassoulet Recipe

After a recent weekend away to Fort William, driving through snowstorms, and past the snow-capped Ben’s of the Highlands, I needed a little something to comfort my body and my soul. With a packet of Cumberland sausages in the fridge begging to be used, I looked no further than a classic Cassoulet – or to be more specific, my sausage and white bean cassoulet.

This sausage and white bean cassoulet is one of my favourite dishes to cook, and I find it tremendously relaxing, which was needed after a weekend away relaxing! I love slow-cooked foods, and slowly bringing out the flavours of each ingredient.

A cassoulet is a slow-cooked stew or casserole from southern France, which contains two types of meat and white beans. For my cassoulet, I use thick Cumberland sausages which are a lightly seasoned pork sausage, as well as bacon and cannellini beans.

Now, we all know I love a good British sausage, and I always try to use British produce where possible – specifically Scottish if possible. So although this is a cassoulet, it most definitely has a British twist to it. This could almost be a grandiose twist on a more traditional sausage, bacon and beans on toast – just with a little French flair.

I think, when it comes to sausage casseroles, cassoulets and curries is that the mistake most people make is not pre-grilling or browning the sausages. If left alone to cook in a simmering sauce, the sausage skins will turn mushy, and the sausages themselves will be pale and unappealing. However, browning the sausages first? Très bien!

This rule of thumb is also applied to the bacon lardons in this recipe.

Mirepoix

This cassoulet also uses a mirepoix base of onions, carrots and celery, slowly cooked in bacon fat and olive oil to sweet tenderness. After stirring through a little paprika and tomato paste, I then soften the mirepoix further with a generous helping of white wine.

Let’s talk Ingredients…

Sausages: I use Cumberland sausages, however any thick pork sausage will suffice.

Bacon Lardons: Bacon lardons are thickly diced bacon pieces, perfect for hearty stews and casseroles. If you are unable to source bacon lardons, any diced bacon will suffice as long as there’s a bit of fat to them, which is needed for the mirepoix.

White Beans: The recipe calls for “white beans” which is a rather broad term. I prefer cannellini beans, but truly any large white bean will suffice in this recipe.

Dry white wine: In cooking, I prefer to use dry white wines like Sauvignon Blanc. Using any sweet or fruity wine will add a strange sweetness to this cassoulet, so best to stick with something on the dryer side of the wine spectrum.