Vegan or Chicken Cassoulet

This is a healthy, stealthy version of the classic French Cassoulet. I say stealthy because you won’t miss the fatty pork sausages in this super easy, flexible recipe. You can do this in the slow cooker if you like, but I cook it in a deep, heavy dutch oven, topped with crispy bread crumbs and flavorful herbs. I cut all the Veg and make two pots of this, one with chicken and chicken sausages and one with veggie sausages for the veg heads in my family. Serve with crusty authentic sourdough bread, good olive oil for drizzling and a deep, full bodied red wine.

You can make this with a couple different kinds of beans.  You can pre-soak them and let everything cook all day in the slow cooker, used canned beans and toss it right into the oven after mixing it up or use leftover beans and put it directly into the oven.  I like to use the big, soft butter beans.  I pre-soak them in the pressure cooker or soak overnight and then toss everything into the slow cooker for the day.  I pop it into the oven along with a loaf of bread to brown up just before serving. If you are making one batch of Veg and one Chicken, just double everything and put in separate pots.  Don’t skimp or go dry on the herbs.  They are what make this dish amazing.