I recently read a post by Mark Bittman on his blog Bitten about a meal he made for a fundraiser that had me salivating. He wrote, “We cooked roasted sweet potatoes, Cassoulet with Loads of Vegetables (from my book “Food Matters”), and salted cabbage.” I love cassoulet, a rich meat and white bean stew from the south of France, but have not made it often due to the fact that a traditional cassoulet can take days to cook. Mark Bittman’s recipe for cassoulet caught my attention because it comes together quickly and is cheap to make.
When I went to the grocery store for the ingredients I grabbed several sweet potatoes, remembering Mark writing that he had served the cassoulet with roasted sweet potatoes. The cassoulet prep was easy and it was soon simmering away on the stove, filling the kitchen with a mouth-watering aroma. The cassoulet was delicious and hearty, and Bittman was right–it was quick and easy to make!
I decided to use the sweet potatoes to do a twist on a recipe that I’ve made before for Crash Hot Potatoes (from The Pioneer Woman Cooks!). I followed the directions exactly, but used the sweet potatoes, and they turned out beautifully.
I also didn’t worry about size (the recipe calls for small potatoes) and used nice large sweet potatoes. In fact, although the cassoulet was fabulous, the sweet potatoes were the star of the meal. I’ve decided that Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes are even better than Crash Hot Potatoes, which I didn’t think could be possible. Golden and crispy with the perfect mix of sweet and savory, these sweet potatoes will be showing up on the Fuji table many times in the future.
Mar 10
2009
Cassoulet and Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a sweet potato currently sitting in the bowl on my counter that BEGS to be made this way. It’s gonna be a side with my tofu! I can hardly wait!!!!! I think the pics are what sent me over the edge. I could eat those pics they look so good! Seriously.
looks great!
We just bought a 50lb box of Idaho Potatoes for our food storage and are at our wits end trying to figure out how to incorporate them into our meals! Thanks for this recipe, we’re trying it tonight!!
Brilliant use of potatoes!
Oh man, the pics are killing me. These look so delicious, I am so making the sweet potato version. Yummers!
Note to self: Don’t read Mama’s blog at lunchtime, I have a rumbly in my tumbly. :)
That’s a great idea, using sweet potatoes from crash hots! I will be stealing it. ;)
Oh my, that looks GOOD! And I love “bug” what a good nick name!
I LOVE sweet potatoes, and they’re so good for you too! I’ll have to try that recipe!
This looks so good…and who doesn’t love sweet potatoes??? YUMMY!
So random–I just made my first cassoulet last week after reading the EXACT SAME BLOG!!!! We are on the same wave, my fabulous neighbor! I’ll have to try the sweet potatoes next time, but we are all still in love with the original crash potatoes that I’m afraid to mess up a good thing.
Yum! Saving this for the Winter coming up. I always order cassoulet if I see it on the menu, although at my favourite French eatery it’s never on the menu, you need to ask them for it and they usually have some for their French clientele.
Looks so yummy! I need to add French cuisine onto my growing list of “to learn” cooking. This looks like a great start, I don’t think I can mess it up!
Great job on this one! It left me salivating too.