21 July 2008

Cassoulet Stuffed Bread Melts


Another of Rachael Ray's recipes. I have too many healthy cookbooks, so when I want to use something like pork or sausage, she's more or less the only person I have to turn to. (Or, you know, the internet.) But her food does taste good, so I can live with that.

You know, I almost wish I were a bigger part (or a part at all really :D) of the food-blogosphere because I'd love to start up a blog or group for people to cook all the way through Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats cookbook. Just to say it's been done, because I can't imagine any one person (or family) would ever ever cook their way through it. A photo for each and a blurb about what was good and what wasn't and if it was worth the bother or whatever.

Anyway... this is cassoulet for the lazy and poor - not a dab of duck confit in sight and it wasn't a slow-cooked stew but a 20 minute from start to finish dinner. Still, quite tasty. And I've never had the "real" thing and also the real thing was peasant food to begin with anyway, so I suppose this is kind of modern day peasant - pre-cooked sausages and canned beans (I used Eden's organic navy beans - I can't say enough good things about Eden's canned beans) and cooked quickly because two-income families don't generally have time for truly slow-cooked dinners.

I wish that I'd gotten this a bit more saucy, but I didn't measure the liquid added toward the end and it really just cooked away too much. It was fine without a sauce or gravy or whatever, better than fine, but I had a thought that it'd probably be pretty spectacular on baked potatoes, if it were liquidy enough to keep the potato moist. As it was, on the crust of a bun (I scooped out the insides), it had just enough liquid to keep from being dry but not so much that it wound up soggy.

If I'd had a more plainly flavoured sausage - I had just spinach/feta sausages - I might have flavoured it with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. That's a mighty good combination with sausage and... ohhh, mushrooms, and a more proper white gravy. Yum. Now I've got ideas, and ideas can be dangerous things... (at least when it comes to not generally healthy foods like sausages).

3 comments:

  1. Hi K,

    Actually, someone did cook their way through 365: No Repeats! You can check it out here: www.oneyearproject.com.

    I'm adding your post to my weekly Roundup of Rachael's recipes!

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  2. I should have known that someone, somewhere, would be bloody-minded enough actually to do it on their own :D I never could because there's just too many things she uses that I never do (I don't eat seafood, for instance).

    I've been reading your entries about your year of RR, kind of skipping around here and there, seeing what you didn't like and what you did and what you thought of things that I've also made (I've only done a handful), and it's really interesting. So yeah, thanks for dropping a note!

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  3. Oh, wait! Is that someone who did it not you? (I just assumed.) At any rate, thanks still for the link.

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