Cassoulet, for two (sort of)

I normally only make Cassoulet for big dinners with 6 or 8 or 10 people. It’s one of those dishes that is best made for a crowd.

Properly made it should have duck confit and sausages and, maybe, some lamb chops or slabs of pork belly.

You can find my original Cassoulet recipe here, along with a more in-depth explanation of the types of cassoulet. It also has (small) photos of the assembly process. You really should have a look.

However…. After I started cooking beans with my Instant Pot, and loved having the beans on hand, I couldn’t stop thinking about cassoulet. Obviously, we weren’t going to be having a large gathering for dinner anytime soon so I decided to make it for the two of us.

The next time I do it, and there will be a next time, I will use Toulouse sausages in addition to the duck legs and plan on having it twice. As it was, there were enough beans left over for a risotto the next night, and beans for lunch for a few days.

Neither of us complained…..

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Cassoulet, for two

Print Recipe

I cooked the beans in the Instant Pot but instructions are also given for the traditional stove-top method, which requires soaking the beans first. They don’t need to be soaked for the Instant Pot.

• Author: Kate
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 hours
• Total Time: 5 hours 20 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: One Dish Dinners

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups dried white beans (13oz, 375gr), lingots, cannellini, Great Northern
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3oz (90gr) bacon, chopped
• 2oz (60gr) dry-cured ham, such as Bayonne, Prosciutto, chopped
• 2 bay (laurel) leaves
• 1 tsp paprika
• 3 cups (24oz, 750ml) chicken broth
• 2 cups (16oz, 500ml) water
• 2 tbs duck fat
• 2 duck legs – confit de canard
• 1 cup (8oz, 250gr) tomatoes, peeled, chopped

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

• Instant Pot:
• Put fat, bacon, ham, onion, garlic in the Instant Pot. 
• Set it to Sauté for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
• Onions should be tender and bacon cooked.
• Add broth, water, paprika, bay leaves, and stir well to scrape up any cooked-on bits.
• Add beans, stir, put the lid on, and set the Instant Pot to Pressure, (high pressure) for 40 minutes.
• Let release naturally.
• Discard bay leaves.
• Cook top:
• Soak beans for four hours or overnight. Drain. 
• Sauté bacon, ham, onion, in fat until bacon is cooked.
• Add garlic and sauté briefly.
• Add remaining ingredients and enough additional water (if needed) to cover the beans by 2 – 3 inches. 
• Cover and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer until beans are tender, 1 1/2 – 2 hours. 
• When done discard bay leaves.
• Assembling the Cassoulet
• Wipe the fat off of the duck legs.  
• Put a layer of beans in the bottom of a heavy pot. 
• Lay the duck legs on the beans.
• Add another layer of beans. 
• Spread the tomatoes on the beans.
• Top with remaining beans.
• Add enough bean liquid / chicken broth / water to almost cover the beans. 
• Bake, uncovered, at 350F (175C) until you see the top bubbling.  Reduce the heat to 250F (125C) and continue baking for 3 hours.  When the top gets dry and crusty, take the back of a spoon and push it gently into the liquid.  If it starts to dry out, add more liquid.

Notes

There is normally a lot of fat on the duck confit. Take it off the duck and save it for frying potatoes.
I use 2 tbs duck fat for frying the onion and bacon. Substitute 1 tbs olive oil
You could substitute chicken legs and thighs for the duck, but I think using smoked sausages would be a better choice.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/4 recipe
• Calories: 625
• Sugar: 5.9 g
• Sodium: 1088.4 mg
• Fat: 21.7 g
• Saturated Fat: 6.7 g
• Trans Fat: 0 g
• Carbohydrates: 68.4 g
• Fiber: 16.8 g
• Protein: 41.5 g
• Cholesterol: 74.1 mg

If you can’t get duck confit you could use smoked sausages or pork chops or chicken thighs or lamb chops. If using pork, lamb, or chicken I would suggest using more of the dry-cured ham for flavoring.

As to the leftover beans….

Pick any Risotto from my list and use 1 1/2 cups of beans for the condimenti. Or 1 cup of beans and 4 oz sausage, crumbled and fried.

Or a little bit of leftover duck confit.

So many choices….. Pasta would be good, too.