"Cassoulet"

Do you ever see those signs with quotation marks around random words? Please don't "feed" the "birds." Parking in "back." You know what I mean. Here the quotes serve a purpose: Some might say this is not "authentic" cassoulet. (I won't get into why authentic is in quotes here.) Mostly because it starts with a pound of sweet Italian turkey sausage, which is inauthentic on about three different levels. It still tasted good, though. I feel like the fennel from the sausage combined well with cassoulet's traditional thyme.

Anyway, it's much easier and faster than the usual cassoulet, too. Saute the aforementioned sausage, removed from casing, in a little bit of oil in a Dutch oven. Add a thinly sliced onion and a minced garlic clove. Then pour in 45 ounces rinsed, drained canned white beans, 5 sprigs thyme, 1 1/2 cup chicken stock, 2 chopped parsnips, 2 chopped carrots, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for an hour.

Meanwhile combine 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs with 2 minced garlic cloves and 1/4 cup chopped parsley. Spoon the bean mixture into a shallow casserole dish, then spread breadcrumbs over the top and bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

This makes a huge amount, so I only baked half of it Sunday night for Todd and I (he took leftovers to work the next day). Then I washed out the casserole and spooned the rest of the mixture in it and put it in the fridge. I brought it to work today, with the rest of the breadcrumbs, to share with a couple of coworkers. We've been trying to start up a rotation of taking turns bringing lunch for the others once a week, but we all tend to be busy so it's been slow getting it started.