Tom Kerridge's French-Style Stew
With three types of meat as well as white beans, this hearty stew is my take on a traditional French cassoulet. The perfect winter-warming treat!
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170C fan.
- Place an ovenproof casserole over a medium-high heat. Put the pork fat in the pan and once it has melted add the sausages, cooking them until they are browned evenly all over. They don't need to be cooked through at this stage. Remove the sausages from the pan and set aside on a large oven tray.
- Next, season both sides of the chicken thighs with salt. Lay them into the hot pan skin side down and cook them for 4-5 minutes or until the skin is golden and crispy. Turn them over and cook them for another 3-4 minutes on the other side. Then remove the chicken from the pan and place on the tray with the sausages.
- Slice the smoked bacon into 1cm pieces. Drop these into the pan and brown them lightly on each side. Remove from the pan and add to the sausages and chicken.
- Now use the same saucepan to make the base for the stew so you don't lose any of the flavour from cooking the meat. If there is a lot of residual fat in the pan from cooking the meat, pour some of it away - but not too much. Put the onion and carrot into the pan with the remaining meat juices and sauté for 5 minutes or until soft. Next add the celery and garlic and continue to cook for another 4 minutes or so. Add the wine and let it bubble and reduce for a minute or two before adding the tomatoes and stock. Stir well and bring up to a simmer. Add the beans to the pan along with the liquid in the jar, then the bouquet garni. Season well with salt and pepper and stir again.
- Now return the cooked bacon and sausages to the pan. Stir well and then lay the chicken thighs on top, skin side up so that they stay crispy during cooking. Add any juices from the resting meat to the pan as well. Transfer the pan to a low shelf in the oven and cook for 40-45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow the stew to cool slightly. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Then ladle into serving bowls, making sure that each one gets a piece of chicken, a sausage and a few pieces of smoked bacon. Spoon over more sauce and beans and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
- Serve this with some large hunks of crusty sourdough baguette spread thickly with salted butter.
Rate this recipe
Overall Rating:
4.00
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