This recipe for rustic cassoulet comes from the Jan/Feb 2015 issue of Weight Watchers Magazine, titled Welcome to Delicious. And this dish is certainly delicious 🙂
According to Wikipedia, Cassoulet is a casserole created in the south of France and is a way to slow cook meat, pork skin and white beans.
But the term cassoulet is actually derived from the cassole, which is the traditional cooking vessel in which a cassoulet is made. In the book, French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David, she explains that the cassole is a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides.
And as with many cultural traditions surrounding food, cassoulet ingredients vary greatly by region.
Luckily for me, this recipe doesn't include any pork skin, duck or goose. 😉
How Many Calories and WW Points in this Chicken Sausage Cassoulet?
According to my calculations, each serving has about 239 calories.
To see your WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, Click here!
Recipe Notes
There is a little bit of prep work involved along with pre-cooking everything in a sauce pan on the stove-top. From there, you add everything into your casserole dish (affiliate link) and cook for about 50 minutes.
If you plan ahead for those days when you're pressed for time, you can prep these ingredients one day ahead and then simply pop the cassoulet into the oven on the day you'd like to have it for dinner.
Each generous serving (1/12th) has about 239 calories and just 6* Weight Watchers PointsPlus.
The recipe notes say that you can get a drier casserole by draining the tomatoes before adding and using only ¾ cup of chicken broth. I didn't drain my tomatoes first and used the full 1 cup of broth and I felt that it wasn't very dry at all.
This cassoulet is very comforting and I can imagine making this many more times. And when I'm up for a challenge, I'd also like to try and adapt it for the slow cooker.
Weight Watchers Rustic Cassoulet
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-½ cups chopped onion
- 12 ounces cooked chicken sausage, diced
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
- 3 cans (15.5 ounces each) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 5 ounces baby kale
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Instructions
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the bread crumbs and cook until lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Remove bread crumbs to a bowl and cool. Stir in the chopped parsley until well mixed.
- In a large sauce pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, until softened. Stir in the chicken sausage and cook an additional 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Stir in the carrots and garlic, and cook about 2-3 minutes, until carrots are tender and crisp.
- Add the beans, tomatoes, chicken broth, thyme, bay leaf salt and pepper. Increase temperature to high and bring mixture to a soft boil. Stir in kale and stir continuously until kale wilts, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and stir in the mustard.
- When you're ready to bake the cassoulet, preheat the oven to 375F and spray a 13x9-inch casserole dish (affiliate link) with nonstick spray.
- Add bean mixture to the prepare dish and sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs.
- Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove the foil and continue baking until bubbling and top is golden and crusty, about 5-10 minutes.
- Makes 12 generous servings.
Equipment
Recipe Notes
*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
Source: Weight Watchers Magazine, Jan/Feb 2015
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Martha McKinnon
This looks wonderful! Any chance of getting a taste? Do you think this would work well as a make ahead dish for company?
Peter
Of course - I was planning to bring some to you tomorrow! And yes, I had the same thought... this would be great as a make ahead dish for company because you can prepare it all ahead of time and then just place it in the oven and set the timer and visit with your guests until dinner time 😉