Yes, You Can Have Cassoulet On a Weeknight with This Easy Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

What to eat with cassoulet for dinner? ›

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.

cassoulet, French dish of white beans baked with meats; it takes its name from its cooking pot, the cassole d'Issel. Originating in Languedoc in southwest France, cassoulet was once simple farmhouse fare, but it has been elaborated into a rich and complex dish.

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.

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.

If you like cassoulet, you'll love fabada. It's leaner, smokier, and—crucially—takes a fraction of the time to prepare.

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.

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).

In cassoulets, the haricot bean is now always the principal ingredient. In the medieval period, broad beans (favolles), fresh or dried, were used in stews of the cassoulet type.

Part of what makes cassoulet so special is the golden brown crust that forms on top of the stew near the end of the process. But when asked what forms this crust, most home cooks would probably give the wrong answer.

A good cassoulet really needs nothing else, everything is in the casserole, it's a complete dish in its own right.. About all you need is some nice crusty bread, buttered of course, a French baguette cut into thick slices is ideal.

What wine goes with cassoulet? ›

The richness of the dish is balanced out by the acidity in the wine, while the buttery notes in the Chardonnay complement the texture of the beans and meat in the Cassoulet. We recommend choosing a full-bodied Chardonnay with notes of oak and vanilla, as this will complement the earthy flavours in the Cassoulet.

The main difference between a casserole and a cassoulet is that a casserole is more of a food category than one specific dish. In contrast, cassoulet is the name of a particular dish. This dish combines meat, usually pork or mutton, with white beans and seasonings. The dish originated in France.

A changing classic: cassoulet in modern France

Today, the dish remains a major draw for the otherwise sleepy town of Castelnaudary.

The first cassoulet is claimed by the city of Castelnaudary, which was under siege by the British during the Hundred Years War. The beleaguered townspeople gathered up the ingredients they could find and made a large stew to nourish and bolster their defenders.

In South West France, cassoulet is more than king: it's God Himself. That's according to the celebrated belle epoque chef Prosper Montagné, anyway — and almost a century after he said it, no one's arguing. This humble bean stew is as much part of the cultural identity of the Occitanie region as rugby and red wine.

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.