One Pot Meal: Cassoulet

One of my absolute favorite one-pot meals is French-style cassoulet. Originating in pre-war French villages, cassoulet is both rich in texture and satisfying to to even the most sophisticated of palettes. The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides.

Numerous regional variations exist, the best-known being the cassoulet from Castelnaudary, the self-proclaimed "Capital of Cassoulet", Toulouse, and Carcassonne. All are made with white beans, which have replaced the medieval broad bean Vica fava, and duck or goose confit, meat and sausages.

In the cassoulet of Toulouse, the meats are pork and mutton, the latter frequently a cold roast shoulder. The Carcassonne variation is similar but doubles (and sometimes triples) the portion of mutton or replaces the duck with partridge. Other regions use a duck confit instead of mutton, which gives the dish a much deeper flavor. Depending on your taste preferences, you can use whichever meat you prefer.

While this dish dates back to the 14th century, modern American restaurants often apply the term "cassoulet" to any hearty bean-based casserole, much like baked beans. The flavors may have changed a bit over 700 years, but the tradition remains the same: true French-style cassoulet can take up to two full days to prepare.

I don't have that kind of time and I'm sure you don't either. For this reason, I have pared down a few of the expensive ingredients and snuck in a few additions of my own. My new take on cassoulet will take only three short hours, a far cry from the demanding original recipe.