Food
Chris Hardman's quick cassoulet with crushed baby potatoes
by Sarah Alcock
Serves: 4
Chris Hardman was a runner up in our Dishy Dads competition. He cooked this quick cassoulet with crushed baby potatoes in the final.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 Taste the Difference Toulouse-inspired pork sausages
- 4 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 x 160g pack Taste the Difference bacon lardons
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 250ml red wine
- 1 bouquet garni (thyme, parsley and a bay leaf)
- 200ml vegetable stock
- 2 tsp plain flour
- 250g baby Chantenay carrots, trimmed
- 1 x 410g tin butter beans
- 500g mini new potatoes
- 200g fine green beans, trimmed
- 1 tbsp chopped chives
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- a small bunch of watercress
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a wide saucepan and brown the sausages, then the chicken, all over, turning regularly, then remove from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add the chopped onion and lardons, sweat for 5 minutes then add the garlic and fry for 1 minute more. Return all the meat to the pan, add the wine and bring to the boil.
- Once the wine is simmering, add the bouquet garni, vegetable stock and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes for 15-20 minutes, until tender, then drain.
- Mix the flour with a little water to a smooth paste and stir into the pan after it's simmered for 15 minutes. Add the carrots, cover with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes. Boil or steam the green beans until tender.
- Add the drained butter beans to the pan and continue to simmer gently, uncovered, for 4 minutes.
- Crush the cooked and drained potatoes gently with a fork (you don't want to mash them), then mix in the chopped chives, extra-virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve a sausage and chicken thigh (or 2 sausages for the larger appetite) per person along with the potatoes (you can mould them in ramekins first if you like) and beans. Garnish with watercress.