Italian Chicken Sausage & Potato Cassoulet

One of my favorite foods is potatoes.  Mashed, hashed, smashed, baked, fried, doesn't matter, I love them.  Believe it or not, they are also good for you!  The once frowned upon carb bomb actually punches a hefty does of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.  I think there are far worse things in the world and am not afraid of the potato.  I love it!

I also loved in place of pasta in this recipe and swapped pork sausage for chicken sausage.  My favorite brand is Isernio's.  It is gluten-free, lean, and available at your local Super Target for under $5.  Check out the stats:

If you cannot find Isernio's chicken sausage, chicken sausage links or an Italian style turkey sausage will work as well.  If you want to make this cassoulet vegetarian, feel free to leave out the sausage.  It is plenty filling!

On a side note, a cassoulet, as defined by Wikipedia, is a slow cooked French casserole.  I kind of get tired of the word casserole.   While this dish was not slow cooked I felt it was too elegant to be called a casserole. It also gave me an excuse to use my large, red Le Creuset baking dish I never get to use.  See!  This is not just your mama's tuna noodle casserole.  It is a cassoulet:)

Italian Chicken Sausage & Potato Cassoulet

8 medium red skinned potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

8 oz. Italian chicken sausage

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 clove crushed fresh garlic

2 yellow peppers, thinly sliced

1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup shredded 2% mozzarella cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a large baking dish (13 x 9 will do) with non-stick cooking spray.  Place the potatoes in the dish and season with salt and pepper.  Roast the potatoes for 30-40 minutes or until slightly browned.  While the potatoes are roasting, heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Brown the chicken sausage until cooked through.  Remove the sausage from the skillet into a dish and set aside.  In the same skillet, add the onions and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft and translucent.  Add the peppers and mushrooms.  Cook and stir occasionally until the peppers soften and the mushrooms brown.  Add the sausage back to the skillet.  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, parsley and red pepper flakes.  Cook, stirring occasionally until the sauce begins to thicken.  When the potatoes are slightly browned, pour the sauce over the potatoes.  Sprinkle the cheese over the top.  Bake in the oven for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.  Remove from the oven and garnish with the fresh basil. 

In other news, I have to thank my new Food Buzz friend Neshanne from Oishii Treats.  She nominated me for a Versatile Blogger Award!  I am so excited!  So I do not mess up my formatting, I've included the expectations below.  Here are some blogs I've recently discovered since joining Food Buzz:

1.  Feed Your Soul

2.  Peas & Crayons

3.  Saucy Gourmet

4.  Seaweed & Sassafrass

5.  She Makes & Bakes

6.  Happy Valley Chow

7.  Feeding Las Vegas

8.  Young Grasshopper

9.  The Not so Desperate Chef Wife

10.  Flour Trader

11.  A Kitchen Addiction

12.  Oishii Treats

13.  Forkful of Comfort

14.  La Cucina Prima Donna

15.  Lady Behind the Curtain

Here are the rules for the Versatile Blog Award:

• Thank the person who gave you this award.
• Include a link to their blog.
• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

There are also a few add-on rules:

• In the same post, include this set of rules.
• Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs

So, what is the Versatile Blogger Award? ”It is a great way to introduce different bloggers to each other and to promote quality blogs that awardees and their readers may not have discovered otherwise.”