New Year's Cassoulet

We wanted to go out this afternoon but I knew I wanted to have our New Year's beans for dinner tonight. I threw this together based on the cassoulet recipes I found on Epicurious and was able to use most of the meat off the holiday turkey I made two days ago.

New Year's beans is a tradition in our house based on my Aunt Beverly's tradition of having beans every New Year's Day. She believed that having beans on New Year's Day would bring you good monetary fortune for the new year. She never had any reason complain and can't say that I have either.

New Year's Cassoulet
8-10 servings

1 to 2 cups of chopped onion
1/2 - 1 cup chopped celery
1 package small white or Great Northern beans
4 sweet italian sausages, cut into 1-2 inches chunks
1 plateful of roasted turkey, white and dark meat
1 cup chopped ham
4 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1-2 teaspoons thyme
1/2 - 1 cup sun-dried tomato paste
1 tsp whole peppercorns
6-8 peeled whole garlic cloves
salt to taste

Sort the beans to remove small stones. Rinse beans and then put in a heavy oven-safe pot or dutch oven and cover with 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Let sit for an hour or more.

Saute onions and celery in olive oil in a separate pan until translucent and starting to brown. Remove from heat.

Drain and rinse soaked beans, keeping them in the dutch oven. Add all ingredients to pot with beans. Add about 4-6 cups of water so that all ingredients are just covered with liquid. Bring to boil on stovetop. When mixture boils, cover pot and put in a 300 degree oven for 3 to 4 hours. When done, the turkey should be falling apart and the beans tender. I set the cook time feature on my oven and then went out with the family for a sunset walk on the beach. We came home to the most delicious cassoulet. Serve with a salad.