Sausage & White Bean Stew

A slow-cooked Sausage, Bacon and White Bean cassoulet with rich French flavours bringing France to your kitchen!
Ingredients
- 6 pork sausages
- 100g bacon lardons
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp paprika
- 185ml dry white wine
- 400g tinned tomatoes
- 400g tin white beans, rinsed
- 3 bay leaves
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with a small amount of oil.
- Once hot, cook the sausages for 2-3 minutes each side or until browned. Remove from skillet and set aside. Leave any remaining fat or oil in the skillet.
- Add the bacon lardons to the skillet, and cook 4-5 minutes or until golden brown and the fat has rendered. Remove bacon from skillet and set aside. Leave any remaining fat or oil in the skillet.
- Reduce heat to low and add onion, carrots and celery (mirepoix). Gently cook for 10-15 minutes or until onion is soft and translucent.
- Increase heat to medium and stir through paprika and tomato paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly mixed through the mirepoix and the tomato paste has darkened in colour.
- Add the white wine to the skillet and stir through. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Next, stir through the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Return the sausages and bacon to the skillet, add bay leaves, and cover with a lid.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours.
- Remove lid and stir through white beans. Simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
- Serve with crusty white bread or buttery mash potatoes.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 449Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 54mgSodium: 933mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 10gSugar: 7gProtein: 26g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
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.


I know my family would love this for dinner. Pinning for later!
The variety of spices in this dish really make in flavorful! Such a comforting recipe!
Now this is my kind of comfort food. Protein packed too.
The sausage looks too inviting. The perfect recipe to keep handy for those weeks when you have some really busy days and need some energy boost over the weekend.
That’s it! It’s such a good meal to curl up with for some r&r!
I love this cassoulet with veggie sausages and it’s so good. We had it with mashed potatoes. Love your photos!
This is one of my faves and now I got a really good reciepe! Cannot wait to try it 😀
x, Andrea
http://www.andreaferencz.wixsite.com/home
I hope you enjoy it!! Let me know how it turns out! xx