Sausage Cassoulet
Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
12 Toulouse-style sausages
200g bacon lardons
2 onions , finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves , crushed
1 tbsp smoked paprika
½ bunch of thyme, leaves picked and roughly chopped
200ml white wine
400g can chopped tomatoes
200ml chicken or veg stock (fresh or 1/2 a stock cube crumbled in 200ml water)
400g can butter beans , drained and rinsed
400g can haricot beans , drained and rinsed
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Method:
Set the slow cooker to low (ours had a 5-litre capacity). Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and brown the sausages on each side – you don’t have to cook them all the way through. Set aside on a plate. Put the lardons, onion and celery in the pan and cook over a medium heat for 8-10 mins until the onion is translucent and the lardons crisp. Stir in the garlic, paprika and thyme, and fry for 3 mins.
Pour in the wine and simmer until reduced by half, around 5-10 mins. Tip in the chopped tomatoes, stock, both lots of beans, the sugar and vinegar. Stir until combined and bring to the boil. Pour into the slow cooker with the sausages. Cover and cook for 6-8 hrs.