Bethany's Vegan Kitchen

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;

1. One tablespoon of oil
2. Three large cloves of garlic, minced
3. One red onion, sliced
4. Four rashers of vegan “bacon”, chopped (I used Vbites)
5. One 400g/14oz tin of chopped tomatoes
6. Herbs, one teaspoon of each; dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme and dried parsley
7. Salt and black pepper to taste
8. Two 400g/14oz tins of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
9. Six vegan sausages, defrosted (I used Fry’s)
10. 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 🙂