Cassoulet with Lots of Vegetables

Great recipe from Runner's World this month. Mark Bittman is NY Times columnist and author of "How To Cook Everything" and "Food Matters". His focus is on foods that will help you perform well that taste great and are easy to make. His core philosophy is More Vegetables, so he takes a traditionally meat heavy dish laced with beans and vegetables and turns it into a vegetable and bean dish laced with meat. Serve it with a fresh loaf of french or italian bread (or whatever bread you like!)

2 T Olive oil
1 lb Italian sausage, bone in pork chop, duck breasts, chicken legs or thighs or a combination of meats.
1 T Garlic
2 leeks or onions sliced.
2 Carrots peeled and sliced
3 Celery stalks, sliced
2 Med Zucchinis, cut into 1/2 in pieces
Salt and Ground pepper
4 Cups canned tomatoes (with juice), chopped
1/4 C fresh parsley
1 T fresh Thyme leaves, chopped
2 Bay leaves
4 C canned white beans, drained
2 C Chicken or vegetable broth
Cayenne pepper to taste

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat, Add meat and cook, turning until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and drain off all but 2 T of fat. Turn heat to medium, add garlic, leeks or onions, carrots, celery and zucchini; season with salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes or until softened. Add tomatoes and juice, meat and herbs. Bring to a boil. Add beans and boil again, stirring occasionally; reduce heat so mixture bubbles gently. Cook for 20 minutes, adding stock when mixture gets thick. (I added about half up front. Used about 1 & 1/2 c total) Fish out meat, remove bones and skin and chop into chunks. Return to pot and add cayenne. Warm through. Serves 4 (great leftover)

Enjoy!