Chicken Apple Sausage Quick Cassoulet

Chicken Apple Sausage Quick Cassoulet

Ingredients

• 1 ½ Pounds Chicken Apple Sausages (about 6 each)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 5 Slices Thick-Cut Bacon, diced
• 1 Yellow Onion – diced
• ¾ Cup Carrot – peeled and small dice (about 2 medium carrots)
• ¾ Cup Celery – small dice
• 4 Cloves of Garlic – peeled and chopped
• 2 (15 ounce) Cans Cannellini Beans – rinsed & drained
• ½ Cup Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth
• ¼ Cup White Wine*
• 2 Sprigs each – Fresh Thyme and Rosemary, plus more for garnish
• 1 (14.5 ounce) Can Diced Tomatoes
• ½ Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
• Kosher Salt, Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9’’ baking dish. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, straight sided, oven proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken sausages and cook, turning frequently, until golden brown and cooked through, about 7-9 minutes. Remove from skillet and transfer to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium and add the bacon to the skillet. Cook until it starts to crisp, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer bacon to a small bowl or ramekin and set aside.

Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pan (add more oil to get 2 tablespoons of fat if pan is dry). Add the onions and carrots to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 3 minutes, then add the celery. Continue to saute, stirring, until celery is softened, an additional 2 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add in the beans, broth, wine, thyme and rosemary. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.

Add in the tomatoes. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer again. Immediately reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a simmer. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Stir in the bacon. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove thyme and rosemary sprigs and discard.

*Optional: Use a large spoon to transfer half of the beans to greased baking dish. Use tongs to transfer the chicken sausages on top. Evenly spoon and distribute the remaining beans into the dish.

Sprinkle the panko evenly on top and transfer to the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until beans are bubbly and panko topping is golden brown*. Let cool slightly before serving, garnished with fresh thyme and rosemary leaves.

Notes

1. If you are looking to pinch a few pennies, you can absolutely use dried white beans instead of canned. Just make sure you soak them and cook them prior.

2. While chicken apple sausages taste absolutely DELICIOUS in this dish, you can substitute any type of sausage you would like. Just make sure to follow the recipe and cook them fully before adding them to the cassoulet.

3. The white wine in the recipe just adds a nice depth of flavor, but you can skip it and just use all chicken broth if you would like.

4. You can make this cassoulet RIGHT IN the skillet (as I instructed in the “how to make this” section above). OR, you can transfer everything to a 9x9’’ casserole dish before baking. I transferred mine for photography purposes only. I suggest you just bake it right in the skillet for easy clean up. Just make sure you use a LARGE, STRAIGHT-SIDED, OVEN PROOF skillet (a cast iron skillet works wonderfully here).

5. If you want your panko topping to get extra brown and crunchy, you can switch the oven to high broil during the last couple minutes of baking. Just make sure you watch the cassoulet carefully as it can go from golden brown and delicious to burned in a flash!