Recipe #248: Weekday Cassoulet

Even once I took this out of the oven, I was skeptical about the flavor... thought it might be on the bland side.  I couldn't be more wrong.  I'm nearly speechless about this one.  Just amazing and perfect and so simple!!  This is from the Food Network channel site, with my changes in red.

Ingredients

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, cut in 1/2 through the bone
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound slab bacon, sliced into large lardons  (I could only get a typical pack, but got thick-sliced, cut them into about 2" pieces)
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups cooked Northern white beans (I just used one can of Northern beans)
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tomato, sliced very thinly
Garlic Bread Crumbs, recipe follows
1 baguette, sliced, for serving


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Rinse and dry the chicken well and season with salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.

In a large Dutch oven, over medium-low heat, add the bacon and slowly render the fat. Remove the bacon to a plate when crispy, leaving the fat in the pan. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the chicken, skin side down. Brown the chicken on both sides and then remove to a plate. Add the onion, celery, carrots and garlic and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. I had a lot of bacon fat left, so I got rid of half of it.  Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce by half. Stir in the beans, bay leaf and thyme. Nestle the chicken thighs and bacon into the pot. Add the chicken stock, cover and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the lid and top the cassoulet with sliced tomatoes and the Garlic Bread Crumbs. Return to the oven and bake, uncovered, 15 minutes longer. Serve the cassoulet with baguette slices.

Garlic Bread Crumbs:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3 slices slightly stale or dried bread, pulsed into crumbs in food processor  (I just used about a cup of regular bread crumbs)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a small saute pan over low heat, add the oil and the garlic. Stir until the oil is fragrant, about 1 minute. Toss in the bread crumbs and cook until the bread crumbs start to turn golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and remove from heat.