The drumsticks on the counter almost thawed and the oven broke. Just like that. It wouldn’t heat. Those were the drumsticks I thought I’d quickly stick in the oven for dinner. Fortunately, the burners were working. I found a cassoulet recipe using chicken legs here. I can’t call mine cassoulet really since I modified the recipe considerably and used no beans. A nice casserole, nevertheless. The taste came out strong and combined very well with noodles.

Recipe

Ingredients

• about 12 chicken drumsticks
• Salt, pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• about 15 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2 onions, chopped
• 5 celery stalks, chopped
• 4 carrots, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 3-4 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 cup chicken stock

How to make: Wash, dry and rub the drumsticks with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a heavy skillet and brown the drumsticks (see photo). Take them off the skillet and let them stand while continuing with the veggies. Saute the onion, celery, carrots and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes (see photo). Add the wine and cook for a few more minutes. Arrange the drumsticks in the skillet, add the bay leaves, chicken stock and bacon bits. Cover and cook for about half an hour or more depending on how well cooked the drumsticks came out of the browning phase. Serve with plain noodles or rice. Below are photos from the browning and veggie sauteing stages.

Notes and tips: If you want to turn this into a quick cassoulet, when you combine the veggies with the drumsticks and bacon, add 2-3 cups of cooked white beans. As per Melissa d’Arabian’s suggestion from the Food Network, when the food is ready you can add a few slices of tomatoes and bread crumbs on top and bake uncovered for 15 minutes. Not an option for me today 🙂