In my order I bought the Cassoulet Book; I love reading cook books for inspiration, and this one is inspiring.  I doubt I ever make the Real Deal — not likely to buy duck and so forth.  But I will adapt the recipes to my own situation.  I make it up as I go!

I learned the “Ham & Beans” recipe my mom made was really a faux cassoulet recipe.  Theirs is a bit better than my mom’s — I was not fond of the brown sugar she put in her beans nor spaghetti.

The heirloom beans are beautiful too; even the white ones glow and don’t look like old dead things. Rancho Gordo Cassoulet Beans are grown from the Tarbais beans of France: “We took seed from France and produced this bean with our distinct terroir here in California. Tarbais beans were developed by generations of farmers in Tarbes, France. The original seed is a New World bean and most likely originated in Mexico. Out of respect for the French farmers and terroir, we’re calling the bean Cassoulet Bean. We think in order to call it Tarbais, it should be grown in southwestern France.”

After washing and making sure no stones were in the bag,
I soaked mine for 1 hour in my Dutch oven, covered about 1 inch,
and used the water as they suggested as part of the cooking.

My recipe this time was very close to my RG Lima Bean recipe —
Remember we like things HOT:

1 lb Rancho Gordo Cassoulet Beans
I qt chicken stock
4oz Niman’s Ranch Certified Humane bacon
I chopped in bean-size bites and fried crisp in a small pan…
Adding a bit of the stock and scraped the bits to make the beans taste even better,
and added (more) 2 T chopped garlic
4 heaping T Blackened Chili Pesto or 2-3 blackened hot peppers, chopped, set aside.
Soffritto:
1 large RED onion, chopped, sauteed
3 carrots, chopped (if huge then quarter and chop)
3 stalks celery — leaves welcomed — chopped
Everything into the soaking beans and water….  And add seasonings:
1 t garlic salt (I don’t add salt until the end), 2 T cumin, 1 T pepper,
and as we like heat, 1/2 t dry crushed chipotle chili peppers

Cooked about 2 hours — but until I get the hang of this I say check every 30 minutes.

Later, salt and pepper to taste!

Always organic or non-GMO, humanely raised. It matters!

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