This was one of the recipes in Mary Berry's Christmas programme last year. It looked so good that we bought extra pigs in blankets in order to make it. You can see the recipe here.
We actually adapted it to a quick version that just serves two people.
In browning the PIBs the blankets (bacon) came off - the sausages became unwrapped but that was not a bad thing! In fact it gave me the idea that the cassoulet would be just as good another time made with chipolatas and lardons!
It was utterly delicious, perfect for a Friday night supper (or any night of the week!). Because it contains a whole tin of beans we just had ours with extra veg; carrots and broccoli. I used my lovely small old Cousances cast iron casserole dish, a present from my Aunty Vera in the 80’s. She had bought it during the early trend for cast iron pots and pans but couldn’t get on with it, preferring her 1970’s Pyrex dish instead - the white one with the orange flower pattern. I'm sure many of us remember those and I dare say some of you will still be using one!
We obviously used ready made uncooked PIBs but it would be perfect for cooked leftovers, just putting them in last thing with the beans once the sauce got going. The advantage there is that they would probably stay in one piece!
Ingredients
1 tblsp sunflower oil
10 pigs in blankets (or the whole pack of 12!)*
2 small shallots, peeled and chopped
1 stick of celery, washed and sliced
2 small cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed or grated
1 400g can of chopped tomatoes
1 400g can of haricots verts or other white beans eg butter beans, cannellini beans, chick peas, drained and rinsed
a splash of white wine (or water) used to rinse the empty tomato tin
1 tsp dried parsley or sage
1 tsp Dijon mustard (or just a spot of English mustard)
1 vegetable Oxo cube or any stock cube or stock pot
1 tsp chicken gravy granules if needed
1/2 tsp sugar if needed
Method
Heat the oil in a heat proof (cast iron) casserole dish or sauté pan. Add the shallots, garlic and PIBs and fry gently, stirring, to colour them. Don’t worry if the bacon unwraps itself from the sausages!
Stir in the tomatoes, beans, and herbs, crumble in the stock cube and bring to the boil. Add the wine and simmer gently uncovered for about 10 minutes until the sausages are cooked through. *this is the stage where you could add cooked leftover PIBs.
Season and taste the cassoulet. Add the sugar if the tomatoes seem a bit sharp. Add the mustard and stir in the gravy granules to thicken the sauce if it’s a bit thin.
Serve with any extra veg you like.
Serves 2.
You might also like these other sausage dishes:
Sausage and potato quiche which could also be adapted to use leftover PIBs.
Making this for tonight's meal. Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoyed it!
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