Experiment 15 - Chicken Cassoulet - The Results

Ingredients list

A couple things to note about my ingredients.  For the chicken, I used boneless skinless thighs.  They're my favorite, and cheaper than breasts.  For the sausage, I used turkey keilbasa.  As you can see, I used V8 instead of tomato juice, mostly because it was what I have on hand.  And finally, rather than buying too many carrots and too much celery, I was happy to go ahead and buy the mirepoix at Trader Joe's.  There was a little bit more than the recipe called for, but I used most of what was in the container and will use the rest to make something else this week.

This was pretty simple to put together.  First up was the beans - rinsed and placed in a saucepan with enough water to cover by two inches.  They were brought to a boil, the dropped to a simmer for ten minutes, then removed from the heat, covered, and left to sit for an hour.

In the meantime, I cut the keilbasa in half lengthwise, then cut it into one in chunks.  I rinsed the chicken off and patted it try, the put it everything back in the fridge while the beans soaked.

When the beans were just about done, I put the mirepoix on the bottom of the crock pot, then put the chicken on top.  I drained the beans and put them in a bowl with the sausage, spices, juice and Worcestershire sauce.  I mixed it all up then poured on top of the chicken.  Then came the really wasy part - turn the crock pot onto low and cook for 9 to 11 hours.  (The recipe says you can cook on high for 5 1/2 to 6).

(time passes)

After a busy day outside, it was finally time for dinner.  The recipe said to use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken and sausage.  This was easier said than done, as my slotted spoon picked up plenty of beans, and a lot of the chicken was falling apart.  As always, I did my best.  The final step was to slightly mash the means.

Chicken, sausage and bean mixture were served up in a soup bowl.  And I added a Trader Joe's multi-grain croissant, because it seemed like a good accompaniment.

Verdict: What I had was very good, but I don't think it was a true cassoulet (although I've never had one, I did my research).  I did like the fact that there was no salt or pepper added to the recipe, and it didn't need any.  I will probably go ahead and search out more authentic versions - either to make myself, or to have served to me in a small village in France.

Lessons Learned - nothing new this week.
Tools needed - nothing new this week.
Skills needed - nothing new this week.