Creamy Navy Bean and Squash Gratin with Bits of Sausage (FM)

• 4 ounces Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1/4 cup half-and-half or cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, or 1 teaspoon dried
• 3 cups cooked or canned navy beans, drained
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and seeded
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock or water, or more as needed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional [Didn't have any.  Moving soon so not buying any.]

Mise en place.

Cook sausage over medium-high heat but don't brown it too much.

Combine half-and-half, rosemary, beans, and sausage.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Layer squash, pour over water, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle over more salt and pepper.

Baked covered with foil for 45 minutes and without for another 45 minutes.

The dish was also quite good.  Unfortunately I managed to screw myself over by neglecting to wrap the dish and refrigerate it after cooking.  I wasn't done until 2 am so I guess some things miss my notice at that stage in the game.

Creamy, balanced, nutty...  Maybe I'll approach this dish again.

Chicken and Bean Stew (EP)

• 4 pounds meaty chicken bones and parts (including backs and necks and, if available, gizzards and hearts)
• 1 pound (about 2 1/3 cups) navy beans, picked over and rinsed
• 2 medium onions (about 12 ounces), each studded with 3 whole cloves
• 3 medium to large carrots, peeled
• 1 celery stalk [Oops, didn't have it.  Recipes use so little celery and I didn't check to see if mine had gone bad before shopping; it had.]
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 4 bay leaves
• 8 cups cold water
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped (2 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

"Mise en place" at the outset of me starting to cook the stew.  In the pot, there's the beans, onions, carrots, salt, thyme, bay leaves and water.

I was sort of freaking out about buying chicken backs.  When I needed to buy them for ramen I found them at the Charles Street Savenor's, but apparently they don't carry them anymore.  Mckinnon's in Davis (another go-to meat shop) also didn't have them.  Super 88: nope.  But I did read that chicken wings could be used although the ones I saw in Allston looked way sketchy.

At Symphony's Whole Foods, I spend a while wondering if I was really willing to spend $16 on chicken wings when one of the employees pulled some backs from the depths of the freezer.  Total meat cost: $4

Simmer all this for 1 1/2 hours and pour the mixture into a roasting pan to cool.  Pick the meat from the bones and coarsely chop the vegetables.

Peeling a thoroughly cooked onion: Difficult.

Throw it all back in the pot (Yeah, $4 in chicken bones provides a sufficient amount of meat for the stew) and then add the 3 last ingredients.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Right after I poured the stew out to cool, I tasted one of the beans and thought it tasted exquisite (even with the missing celery stalk).  Did I think the stew was exquisite?  No, but I thought it was very, very good.  It's great in its simplicity, but not fun to eat 6 servings of.

That, I admit, could be applied to even awesome things.