This is my vegan version of the classic French dish, cassoulet. I will note, I am English, not French. So if I’ve inadvertently butchered this cassoulet recipe, I offer my apologies. But imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, right?
Yield; Three to four servings Cook time; One hour (approx)
You’ll need;
- One tablespoon of oil
- Three large cloves of garlic, minced
- One red onion, sliced
- Four rashers of vegan “bacon”, chopped (I used Vbites)
- One 400g/14oz tin of chopped tomatoes
- Herbs, one teaspoon of each; dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme and dried parsley
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Two 400g/14oz tins of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- Six vegan sausages, defrosted (I used Fry’s)
- One stale piece of bread, crusts removed, blitzed with a food processor into breadcrumbs
Method;
- Start by preheating your oven to 180ºC/350ºF
- Next, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add in the garlic and cook for one minute before adding the onion.
- Cook the garlic and onion for about five minutes before adding in the vegan “bacon” pieces. Cook for a further ten minutes.
- Then add in the chopped tomatoes, season with the herbs, salt and black pepper, and cook for about five minutes.
- At this point you can remove the frying pan from the heat and mix through the beans.
- Place the sausages on top of the bean mixture, and press each one down a little. I’m not sure why Fry’s sausages sometimes have a line scored into them, to make them easier to slice perhaps? Who knows.
- Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the bean mixture, trying to avoid the sausages. Sprinkle a little more parsley over the breadcrumbs.
- Bake for around 40 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are starting to brown. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes before serving.
I served mine pretty simply with a freshly baked baguette sliced into pretty thick pieces.
Bye for now 🙂
