Sausage & Beans or Cheat's Cassoulet

Cheat's Casserole with Butter Beans & Chicken Legs

A discovery of frozen pre-cooked beans and frozen sausages, and otherwise a lack of inspiration have led me to make a kind of cassoulet which shall be called sausages & beans in front of the kids.  As expected, they loved it.

Serves 4 (adults)
6 sausages
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Tin of haricot or cannelloni beans (as they look most like baked beans)
A sprig of fresh rosemary or sage
A glass of red wine

In a large pan with a lid over a medium heat, fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil until it starts to brown.  Snip the sausages into bite sized pieces over the pan and fry for a couple of minutes together with the herbs.  Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil, adding a enough water to ensure everything is covered if necessary.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Check the seasoning.

I serve this with mash or pasta.

The variations on this are almost endless;
1) You can add chicken drumsticks or thighs to this (fry them first then poke under the tomato sauce and simmer for about 20 minutes to ensure they are cooked through,
2) Duck legs or breasts instead of chicken,
3) Substitute the sausages for about 4-5 inches of chorizo and add another tin of beans or some chicken thighs,
4)  400g pork belly instead of sausages
5) You can stretch the meat even further by adding diced carrot and celery just after frying the onion and garlic
6) Use leftover roast chicken and/or sausages.