Sausage & Butter Bean Cassoulet

Not a real cassoulet — a real one takes three days and a confit duck leg — but it borrows the two ideas that matter: sausages and beans cooked together long enough to stop being separate things, under a crust of breadcrumbs that goes crisp in the oven. It's the cheapest dinner of the five and makes the most food. Since you bake your own bread, the crust is the bit worth caring about; stale homemade bread makes a far better crumb than anything from a packet.

Ingredients

• 2 packs sausages — 454 g each, beef & pork and pork & herb
• 4 rashers smoked back bacon — chopped
• 2 tins butter beans — drained and rinsed
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 brown onions — chopped
• 4 cloves garlic — sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 Knorr stock pot + 300 ml water
• 3 sprigs thyme, 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• Salt and black pepper

For the crust

• 2 thick slices stale bread — blitzed to rough crumbs
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic — grated into the crumbs
• A handful of grated cheddar — optional

Method

1. Brown the sausages whole. Oil in a wide casserole, medium-high. Colour the sausages all over — 6–8 minutes, turning. They don't need to cook through, they finish in the oven. Take them out.

2. Bacon and onions. Bacon into the sausage fat until it crisps, then onions and a pinch of salt. 8–10 minutes on medium until properly soft. Garlic in for the last minute.

3. Purée, then liquid. Tomato purée in, cook it out for a minute until it darkens. Then tinned tomatoes, stock pot, water, Dijon, thyme and rosemary. Stir and bring to a simmer.

4. Beans and sausages back in. Butter beans in, then cut each sausage in half and return them with any juices. Everything should be just submerged — top up with a splash of water if not. Season with black pepper; hold off on salt, the bacon and stock pot have already brought plenty.

5. Oven, uncovered. 170°C for 40 minutes, lid off. Uncovered is deliberate — you want the top to reduce and concentrate rather than stay soupy. Give it one stir at the halfway mark, then leave the surface alone so it can set.

6. Crumbs. Mix the breadcrumbs with the olive oil and grated garlic until they're evenly damp, and the cheddar if you're using it. Scatter over the top in a loose layer — don't press it down or it goes claggy instead of crisp.

7. Crust it. Back in at 200°C for 15–20 minutes until the top is deep golden and crunchy and the beans underneath are bubbling up at the edges. Rest it 10 minutes before serving — it's molten straight out and the sauce thickens as it settles.