Sausage and White Bean Casserole
Leave it to a poet to hit the nail on the head when T.S Eliot wrote that “April is the cruelest month.” April and I have a relationship, let me tell you. I have lost untold amounts of money on plants enthusiastically planted in April only for them to succumb to frost on the last day of the month. I am prone to not fully taking on board the phrase “Wait until all risk of frost has passed.” April is the month of warming sunshine and ice cold shadows. The time of the year when everything in me yearns to be outside, putting things in the dirt and sending them on their way, yet I have learned to sit on my hands.
The weather is so slow to turn fully toward the warmth that the lag between my spirit and the actual temperature outside can only be soothed by taking the opportunity to continue to cook in a winter style with warming casseroles and lots of meat. Once upon a time this casserole was based on the Hairy Biker’s version but I never added the chili powder or sugar and I usually didn’t have any bay leaves. Their general approach, though, was very much cassoulet adjacent which is nothing but good things in a pot.
In a month’s time this kind of cooking will take a backseat while we spend as much time as possible grilling and eating fresh fruit for dessert. But, for now, when the air is still cool and it isn’t warm enough to eat outside, a warm bowl of this casserole is consolation enough. The key parts are the sausages, the bacon and the beans. From there, you can go in several directions in terms of flavor. The chopped tomatoes make it nice and stewy and good over rice. If you wanted less tomato you can add a little flour to thicken the chicken stock and make a kind of gravy. Once you’ve started with sausage, bacon and beans you’re already winning and you can make it your own. It will also take any kind of green vegetables you need to use up – broccoli, slices of courgette, spinach if you want it to lean toward robust health. Maybe if we all make it at the same time warmer weather will definitively arrive.
