White Bean Cassoulet

Some of my recipes have a fairly long list of ingredients. They are not necessarily hard to make, but it can be intimidating to someone who maybe doesn’t consider themselves to be a cook.

Kind of like when you call, well, pretty much anyone anymore and get a long list of options from their automated system. It is annoying to say the least.

Doesn’t matter who it is: the pharmacy, cable company, bank, gas company, power company…no one has a live person answering their phone anymore.

Press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish. Then…press 1 if you are a customer, 2 if you want to be a customer, 3 if you are a customer of another place, 4 if you know someone who is a customer, and 5 if you can spell the word customer without using spellcheck. Before we get you to a live person who pretends they don’t speak either English or Spanish, but actually speak 10 languages fluently, tell us why you are calling. Press 1 if you want to know our location ( hello…. google! Why would I have 20 minutes sucked out of my life when I can ask Siri, Alexa, google or Hal to give me that information in 10 seconds!) 2 if you want to know our hours,🤦‍♀️ 3 if you want to know who our CEO is and what he or she had for breakfast, 4 if you’d like to hear about valuable services and offers we have (apparently customer service is never included in that list😡) 5 if you’d like to speak to our sales department (yeah, cause I’m so happy with your service now, I’ve called you just to say, “good job”) 6 for billing 7 for technical support, 8 for a TED talk on how to keep from losing your mind when dealing with automated systems, 9 for a Valium prescription which you will need by the end of this call which should be sometime tomorrow by the time you have listened to every option. Press 0 to repeat this menu.

no matter what you press, they always ask you to give them more details so they can “get you to the right people” who I am convinced work for some company making widgets in Brigadoon where the Oompa Loompas bring everyone magic mushrooms that make them 10 feet tall, but clearly not for the company you are dealing with at the moment.

It’s at this point that I usually start screaming, “SPEAK WITH REPRESENTATIVE!” repeatedly into the phone. When that doesn’t work, I begin to press random numbers that take me to more automated options, where I press more random numbers and scream into the phone a LOT more before giving up. Sigh.

‘Don’t give up on this recipe when you see the list of ingredients. It is totally worth it.😊

Ingredients:

1 can of navy beans, drained
1 can cannellini beans, drained
1 can butter beans, drains
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups thinly sliced leeks
1 cup diced onion
3-4 teaspoons minced garlic
2 (15 oz) cans or jars of diced tomatoes
1 cup thinly sliced celery
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon vegan butter
2 pieces bread ( I use Ezekiel bread)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.
Sauté carrots, leeks, onions, and celery in a splash of olive oil till they begin to soften ( about 5-10 minutes). Add the garlic, sage and thyme and sauté till fragrant (about 30 seconds-1 minute). Put the tomatoes and beans in and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer. Taste and add salt and pepper according to preference. Remove from heat and pour into a casserole dish.
Meanwhile, toast the bread (or use the breadcrumbs from stale bread). Allow it to cool, then put it in the blender or food processor and process till it becomes fine crumbs. Add the garlic powder and mix well. Melt the butter, then add it to the breadcrumb mixture and stir with a fork till the butter is combined with all the bread. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the casserole.
Bake the casserole for 25-30 minutes (15 minutes if you use individual ramekins), until the top is lightly browned and it is bubbling around the edges.