Pantry raid - Easy Cassoulet

So what to do when you lack the organizational ability to both go shopping and do that other stuff I intended to do and now people are getting hungry.  You cook from what's on hand.  In this case,

Mix that half pound or so of dried cannellini beans with some chicken broth.
 Tip: That thing about adding salt to cooking beans toughening their skins is hogwash.  Do it.  Go ahead.  You'll get tender yet more flavorful beans.  I didn't use salt here, but I used chicken broth, and it had salt.
Where was I.  A couple cups of broth, at least.  Put the beans and broth in a pressure cooker.  Bring to 15 lbs. pressure - i.e., cook on high until the steam comes out at the high pressure setting.  Turn off the cooker for an hour.  This is a "pressure soak" - it softens the beans a bit more than an all-night soak, and they can now cook evenly.  Check you still have enough water with the beans to pressure cook, and that the vent's not clogged, put the lid back on and pressure cook for 23 minutes if you're going to quick cool, or 19 if you're just going to turn off the heat and let the beans stay in the cooker until you need them.

Heat the oven to 400.

Heat a couple teaspoons olive oil an a Dutch oven, then saute one ingredient at a time (prep the next while the first is cooking):

• 1½ finely chopped onions
• 12 ounces or so chicken breast from your meat CSA, diced. 
• a couple small-to-medium carrots - also finely minced
• a couple cloves of garlic, diced
• a quarter pound of kielbasa, you found in your freezer, thinly sliced

Then add:

• those heirloom tomatoes from the farm, about 12 ounces, diced
• the beans
• a half cup of the Chardonnay you opened last night and kept tightly sealed, the Natura 2007, a steal, that one.  Use something drier if you have it, or if you use this make sure your chicken broth doesn't have sugar added. 
• probably a cup of water, unless there was a free cup of broth with the beans.  
•  a teaspoon of fresh thyme from the herb garden, and a half teaspoon dried, as you've been overgrazing the garden thyme

At this point you've let your weeknight cassoulet come to a boil.  Don't have done that.  Go back to the words "thinly sliced" and adjust the temperature so you're at a simmer at the words "garden thyme."  Also, for your own amusement and frustration, if you really want to be like me, misplace the dried thyme and ask yourself, "Where did the thyme go?" as you go out to get fresh, then as you strip those leaves into the cassoulet think, "Oh, it's good to finally have some thyme on my hands again."  Vow never to tell anyone you think such things, then later write them in your food blog.  Or not, it could make the process needlessly complicated..
Add some ground pepper. Check for seasoning.  Add salt or chicken base if needed.  Depending on your wine and sausage, you might want to brighten it with a little lemon juice, though it's not traditional, and you didn't hear it from me, I've strayed enough with this treatment.
So, see that can of seasoned bread crumbs your wife bought? Sprinkle some over the top.  I don't know, 2/3 cup or so.  Bake uncovered for 25 minutes.  While it's baking, pretend you're in Paris and go buy yourself a fresh baguette to go with. Take the scooter.
This is a wonderful fall meal.  I had been wanting something beany on these first cool nights, with the full moon blanketed in clouds.  You may need to substitute wildly depending on what you have on hand.