Hey gang! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted as summer is already getting bananas-busy over here. All good stuff – eating outside, having friends over for porch-hangs, concerts, yard-work, etc. But I’ve also got a bunch of yummy recipes in the hopper I’m excited to get posted. So onto it!

My friend Justin introduced me to cassoulet a couple of years ago at a dinner party and I just loved the ease of the recipe, the herby flavors AND the fact that it made me feel like I was in a French cottage in the woods gobbling up dinner after a long day tending to my lavender fields. 😀 Really channeling my mother there!

Since so far the cassoulets I have made have been other people’s recipes, I thought it high-time I give my own recipe a go. So I threw the dish below together and was honestly surprised at how well it turned out! It even got the Dave stamp of approval, as he said “this is one of the best things you’ve made.” I’ll take it!

This was kind of an unexpected win, given usually cassoulets have the whole pieces of chicken still together to serve as an entire piece – but honestly, I just let it simmer away for too darn long, so all the chicken fell right off the bone and became super tender and sopped up all the yummy garlic, wine + rosemary flavors. Talk about a fail to win!

Alright, hope you guys give this one a try!

Cook time: 2 hours 30 Minutes
Servings: 6-8

Ingredients
2 tbs olive oil
4 chicken legs (bone in)
4 chicken thighs (bone in)
4 Italian sausages
8 smashed garlic cloves
1 cup chardonnay
3 cups chicken stock
2 sprigs rosemary
1 can drained + rinsed cannellini beans
salt + pepper to taste

First salt and pepper all sides of the chicken pieces. Then get a large dutch oven on the stove over medium heat. Pour the olive oil into the pot, then add the chicken legs, thighs and sausage and lightly brown on all sides, about ten minutes in total. It is a tight squeeze, but I got it to work.

Next, add the garlic cloves, no need to chop, just smash ’em and toss in. Pour in the chardonnay and turn the heat up until you get a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook until the chardonnay reduces to half. Add the chicken stock, the 2 large sprigs of rosemary and the beans. Again, bring the pot up to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook this for two hours over low heat. You’ll know it’s ready when all of the chicken has simply fallen off the bone. Add salt and pepper to taste here.

Discard the chicken bones + rosemary stalks. Serve in big bowls with crusty bread.