Mushroom cassoulet with herby breadcrumbs

effortless!

A crunchy breadcrumb topping is a great way of easily adding different textures to a stew, and makes it more filling so you don’t have to serve with extra sides such as potatoes – to save on waste and get ahead, whizz any stale bread and store the breadcrumbs in the freezer until ready. Rich, meaty mushrooms lend deep flavour to this meat-free cassoulet. Double up by making twice the amount of stew and freezing the extra. When ready to cook, simply defrost and top with the breadcrumbs before baking.

1 HOUR | SERVES 4 | EASY |

dried porcini mushrooms 20g

olive oil 1 tbsp, plus 1 tsp

leek 1, thinly sliced

carrot 1, finely diced

celery 2 stalks, finely diced

garlic 3 cloves, minced

chestnut mushrooms 200g, thickly sliced

shiitake mushrooms 120g, thickly sliced

smoked paprika 1 tsp

cannellini beans 400g tin, rinsed and drained

chopped tomatoes 400g tin

thyme 3 sprigs

bay leaves 2

fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs 70g

sage 6 leaves, very finely chopped

lemon ½, zested

flat-leaf parsley 10g, finely chopped

1 Put the dried mushrooms in a large bowl and pour over 200ml of just-boiled water. Let the mushrooms soak for 20 minutes until very soft. Remove the mushrooms, squeezing any liquid back into the bowl. Pour the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving for later. Coarsely chop the soaked mushrooms and set aside.

2 Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large casserole over a medium heat and fry the leek, carrot, celery and garlic with a good pinch of salt for 10 minutes until softened. Add the chestnut and shiitake mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes until they have started to brown. Sprinkle over the paprika and cook for 1 minute.

3 Add the beans, tomatoes, thyme and bay along with the reserved porcini mushrooms and their soaking liquid, stirring together. Season, bring to the boil, then cover and leave to simmer for 15 minutes until the beans have softened. Remove the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes until the liquid has reduced slightly.

4 Meanwhile, heat the grill to medium-high. Combine the breadcrumbs, sage and lemon zest in a large bowl. Drizzle over 1 tsp oil and toss together. Stir the parsley into the stew and season to taste. Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs and put under the grill for 4-5 minutes or until golden and crisp topped. Serve.

PER SERVING 223 kcals | fat 5.2G saturates 0.8G | carbs 27.9G | sugars 8.3G fibre 10.5G | protein 10.9G | salt 0.3G

high fibre | low cal | low fat | low salt | nourish