Vegetable Cassoulet

After the meat eating extravaganza of the weekend, I definitely needed a break from consuming dead animal flesh and wanted to make something super vegetabley, simple, but also hearty, for dinner on Sunday night.  I did a little searching and came across this Incredible Vegetable Cassoulet from Not Eating Out in New York.  This fit the bill perfectly… I even got to break out my Le Creuset French Oven!  This was exactly what I had in mind – something with lots of vegetables, that would stick to your ribs and felt worthy of Sunday evening dinner.  I didn’t follow the recipe exactly (I rarely really follow a recipe), but I was certainly inspired by this one.  I used what I had and went with my gut and I suggest you do the same.  Because of this meal’s rustic simplicity,  it lends itself well to improvisation.  What I did is detailed below.

So it didn’t exactly photo well (not to mention the complete lack of natural light I had to work with), but here’s the cassoulet plated:

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons Butter

1/4 cup Flour

1 medium Onion (diced)

2 stalks Celery (diced)

2 Carrots (diced)

Salt and Pepper

1/2 lb Baby Portobello Mushrooms (sliced)

3 cloves Garlic

Sage

Rosemary

Thyme

1 lg can Diced Tomatoes

About 1/2 lb of Squash of your choice (I raided my freezer here and used a slightly odd combo of zucchini and butternut squash)

A couple handfuls Chopped Spinach

1 cup Vegetable Stock

1 cup Red Wine

3 cans Cannellini Beans (drained)

3/4 cup Breadcrumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

First, melt the butter and add your flour in a large heavy bottomed pot to form a roux.  Stir frequently.  You’ll know it’s done when it’s a nice medium brown.

Next, add your carrots, onions and celery, and season with salt and pepper.  Once they’ve softened up a bit, you can add the mushrooms, garlic, herbs, tomatoes,  squash and spinach.   Add the red wine and vegetable stock to the mix.  Bring to a boil.  Add the beans.  Cover and Simmer.  Cook until carrots have softened.  This took me about 30 minutes.

Top with a mixture of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.  Throw in your oven set to 325 degrees for roughly 20 minutes.

Enjoy!