Heirloom Bean Cassoulet with Roasted Fall Vegetables
The thought of making cassoulet can be intimidating, even to a seasoned cook. But if you break the job into discrete tasks and then combine them in the right order, it is not too complex (or scary!) The trick is letting the heat of the oven create the alchemy of melding all the disparate flavors together.For this recipe, I used Little Bean Farm and Pantry beans called Papa de Rola. Although dried, they were still so fresh that I didn’t have to soak them before cooking, and I felt that was the way to go because the resulting bean broth was very flavorful.
Ingredients
COOKING THE BEANS
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves thinly sliced garlic
- ½ pound heirloom beans
- Water
- 1 bay leaf
- Sea salt
OVEN-ROASTED VEGETABLES
- Kabocha is my favorite hard squash but you can substitute butternut.
- 1 cup peeled and diced celery root
- 2 cups peeled and diced kabocha squash
- 1 cup sliced oyster mushrooms
- Olive oil to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 plum tomatoes cut in half
- ½ teaspoon minced thyme
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon coriander seed
- 1 head garlic, cut in half across the middle with papery skin left on
HERBED BREADCRUMBS FOR CRUST
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup sourdough breadcrumbs
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon crushed coriander seed
- ¼ cup minced herbs (thyme, parsley, sage, rosemary)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
COOKING THE BEANS
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add the garlic and let just soften. Add the beans, water (enough to keep the beans covered by at least 2 inches during the cooking process), and bay leaf. Add a little sae salt at the beginning of the cooking process. Simmer 1 to 2 hours or until beans are very tender. Taste and add more sea salt as needed.
OVEN-ROASTED VEGETABLES
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Gently toss the celery root, squash, and mushrooms with olive oil, salt and pepper. Separately, toss plum tomatoes with salt and pepper, thyme, lemon zest, and coriander seed. Arrange all vegetables in their separate zones on a parchment-lined baking sheet. The oyster mushrooms will cook fastest, followed by the squash, then the celery root, tomatoes, and garlic. I remove them as each is perfectly tender and continue cooking the rest.
HERBED BREADCRUMBS FOR CRUST
- Heat a skillet with a little olive oil then add the breadcrumbs and garlic and stir frequently until crumbs get a little golden. Add the spices and the herbs at this point, stir a few times, and then remove pan from the heat.
FINISHING THE CASSOULET
- Preheat oven to 400°. Layer the cooked beans with their reserved cooking broth and roasted vegetables into a casserole dish. Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until very hot and bubbling. Spoon the herbed breadcrumbs over the cassoulet and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.
Notes
ON PROTEIN
This is a fully vegan cassoulet, and while that is not traditional, beans can be a nicely fullflavored source of protein all by themselves, especially when cooked with the aromatics that Ben Ebeling say they always add to the bean pot. Since additional vegan protein might be desired (though I think the beans alone can carry the show), I’ve included the following gochujang and soy marinade for firm tofu that could be pan seared to accompany the finished dish.
Editor’s note: If a cassoulet is just not complete until there’s some delicious, smokey sausage tucked in amongst the beans, I can heartily recommend the kielbasa from North Plain Farm in Housatonic.