Where I pull out the crock pot to make dinner (and talk about boobs, of course)

Sausage Cassoulet

Life has been crazy lately. I get to work, and spend all of my time, um, working1 and then I head onto symphony, or band, or home . . . and you know, finding time to blog when you’re just in constant motion2 is really freaking difficult.

Also really freaking difficult? Finding time to make a cheap & good & nutritious meal with all of that going on. And, almost as much as I enjoy blogging, I enjoy cooking3. When life gets hectic, though, it’s easy to go back to the past — TV dinners & delivered pizza & take-out Chinese were a staple of my bachelorhood. But, also, ever present in my life before marriage, was the crock pot. Do a little bit of prep at a time when you’re not hungry or tired or “goddammit, I just don’t want to do this right now,” put things together, and then, when you are tired or cranky or too hungry to concentrate, you have food waiting for you.

One of the meals I went with, often, when I was single, was a sausage cassoulet. And with a re-emergence of winter this past weekend, I decided to pull out the old recipe6.

Sausage Cassoulet

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 4 slices of thick-cut bacon
  • 1/2 pound of smoked sausage, chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 cans of great northern beans
  • 2 cans of diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup of white wine…or, if you have a bottle lying open, whatever’s left in there.

Steps

  1. Bake the bacon at 425 for 8-10 minutes, until done.
  2. Pour the bacon grease over the onions & cook over medium heat until tender (7-8 minutes)
  3. Pour in the white wine and bring to a simmer — leaving at a simmer until reduced by half (10-12 minutes)
  4. Put everything in crock pot (crumbling bacon) and mix
  5. Cook on high for 3-4 hours (or on low for 8-10)
  6. Serve with bread and wine.

Ta-Da!


1 Save for the occasional 140 character outburst.
2 Especially with kids who seem to have no fear of heights, or growling dogs, or fire, or knives, or strangers.
3 And boobs. I love boobs . . . but back to the cooking . . . well, you see, I also love sex4. See, I love to eat5, and cooking — well, that’s like what foreplay is to sex. To me, to get the most out of a meal, you need to make it yourself — you need to love each of the ingredients, working them exactly as they need to be worked . . . for hours on end, if need be. If you do that properly, the resulting orgasm meal is toe-curling unforgettable.
4 Don’t act surprised.
5 Food. I love to eat food.
6 I meant to make this for Friday — but I got a bit behind, and the act of sauteeing an onion before work just wasn’t working for me….besides which, there’s no way I wouldn’t have eaten the bacon immediately as it was ready.

16 comments

  1. “to get the most out of a meal, you need to make it yourself — you need to love each of the ingredients, working them exactly as they need to be worked . . . for hours on end, if need be. If you do that properly, the resulting orgasm meal is toe-curling unforgettable.” Seriously this right here is amazing. I love the way you described this one. Perfect.

    1. Dinner is, most every night, sometime between 5:30 and 6:00. If I’m lucky, the kids might eat a bite or two of whatever it is that I’ve made.

  2. I was looking at something else while your post came up and as I glanced over I swear I read this as, “Where I pull out the crack pipe…” I have an eye appointment tomorrow. Thank God.

    1. I don’t mind complex every now & then, though….a little bit of setup leads to some fun experiences…but are we talking bout food or sex? :-p

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