Cassoulet
- 1 quart dried heirloom cannellini beans
- A small handful of kosher salt
- A sachet of: 3 star anise, ¼ cup black peppercorns, 2 tablespoons toasted fennel seed, and 3 chile de arbol
- 1½ cups finely chopped yellow onion
- 1½ cups finely chopped shallot
- Sea salt
- 2 cups finely chopped leeks
- 1 cup finely sliced scallion
- 1 cup finely diced sweet green chile
- Heaping 1/3 cup finely chopped garlic
- ¼ teaspoon toasted fennel seed, finely ground
- ⅛ teaspoon ground clove
- ¼ cup Pernod
- 2 cups finely chopped fennel
- 2 cups finely chopped celery
- 2 cups finely chopped parsnip
- 1 tablespoon chopped thyme leaves
- ½ bottle dry white wine
- ½ cup fino sherry
- 1/3 cup sherry vinegar
- ¼ cup Herbal Pistou
Herbal Pistou
- ½ cup basil
- ½ cup flat leaf parsley
- ½ cup dill
- ½ cup fennel fronds
- 2 cups olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- A good sprinkle of sea salt
Fried Garlic Gremolata
- ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons garlic, finely minced and fried
Cassoulet Vert
There’s something so enticing and transporting about a steaming bowl of cassoulet and a big glass of red wine. But could the effect be achieved without the seemingly essential magic of pork sausage and duck confit? We’re happy to answer with a resounding: “Hell yes!”
In our cassoulet vert, a garden’s worth of aromatics are sweated down to create an intensely flavorful base, to which heirloom beans (cooked with abundant spices) are added. To serve, we add a triple dose of herbaceousness: an herbal pistou, a garlicky gremolata, and a vibrant, herb-y salad. Cooking the beans from scratch is a must: It infuses the them with major flavor, and yields an umami-rich cooking liquid (which gets stirred into the cassoulet). A spunky, natural red wine to drink with the dish is also a must — as is a hunk of crusty bread, toasted, rubbed with a cut garlic clove and showered with olive oil and sea salt (aka garlicky toast).
Our go-to beans: Rancho Gordo’s cassoulets!
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Instructions
To cook the beans: Soak the beans in vegetable stock overnight. Place beans and the stock they were soaking in into a large pot over high heat. Add salt and the sachet, bring to a simmer, and allow to cook gently for a few hours until the beans are just cooked through. They should hold their form and not be at all mushy. Allow to cool in the cooking liquid.
To make the cassoulet: In a food processor, blend the onions and shallots into a fine paste. Heat plenty of olive oil in a large, walled saute pan, over high heat; add the onion-shallot mixture and season with salt. Sweat, stirring constantly, until the alliums start to caramelize (you want a golden hue here, not dark brown).
Blend the leeks, scallions, green chile and garlic into another fine paste in the food processor; add to the caramelized onion mixture cook down in a similar manner. Season again and add the ground fennel seed and clove. When the mixture is cooked down, deglaze with Pernod; continue to cook on medium until the booze is mostly cooked off.
Use the food processor to process the celery, fennel and parsnip into a fine dice. Add to the pan, add more olive oil, add the thyme, and stir well; cook on medium-low until soft, caramelized, and slightly jam-like, roughly 40 min. Add the fino sherry and sherry vinegar; stir, and allow to cook down for roughly 10 minutes. Add the white wine and allow to reduce slowly, for about 30 minutes.
At this point, the aromatic mixture should be sweet, bright, rich, fragrant and still solidly wet. Add cooked beans and enough bean liquor to cover. Stir well and cook over low heat until everything is melted, the beans are cooked completely through, and the whole thing has a beautifully stew-y consistency. Before serving, finish by adding the herbal pistou, a splash of Pernod and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and stirring through.
To make the pistou: Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
To make the gremolata: Stir gremolata ingredients together and reserve.
To serve: Serve the cassoulet hot, preferably in a clay cassole or cazuela. Garnish with gremolata, another spoonful of pistou and a small salad of vegetables, greens and herbs, such as shaved asparagus, slivered snap peas, celery leaves, parsley, frilly mustard and pea tendrils, dressed in lemon juice, zest, olive oil and sea salt.
