Baked Vegetarian Sausage with Cannellini Beans

I went to a demonstration & dinner class at Williams-Sonoma the other night.  The chef made a casserole dish with Italian sausage and cannellini beans.  It was quite tasty.  It gave me an idea for my own vegetarian version of it since the rest of my family are active vegetarians.  Here is how it goes.

Olive oil

Good thing I made skillet full of it, almost forgot taking a picture.

4 Morningstar breakfast original flavor sausage patties
2 veggie smart dogs
1/2 cup meatless crumbles
1 medium onion, diced or thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsps fresh thyme, chopped
1&1/2 tbsps William-Sonoma mushroom demi glace *
2 cans cannellini beans, mostly drained *
1 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup bread crumbs *
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

* The original uses the beans with the liquid, but I thought it wasn't necessary to have that much sodium in my food and it turned out very good.  But I did add the water in the cans to get some flavor.

* I use Panko Japanese style seasoned bread crumbs.

* When you put the demi glace in, need to stir and break it down to mix in with the rest of the ingredients because it's very congealed together.

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a large, ovenproof pot or deep skillet, warm 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the sausage patties and smart dogs to brown them a bit, about 2 minutes on each side.  Transfer to plate.  Roughly chop the patties and smart dogs.  Add a bit more oil and the onions, saute until softened.  Add the garlic, carrot and thyme, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Put the demi glace and 3/4 cup water in and bring to a simmer.  Add the crumbles, drained beans and tomato paste with 1 cup of water in the bean cans (1/2 cup in each can to get some flavor without all of the sodium content). Cook until the liquid begins to thicken, about 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper. Add the chopped sausage patties and smart dogs in.

In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, Parmesan and a little olive oil.  Sprinkle the mixture over the top and bake until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.  Let cool slightly before serving.

The result was phenomenal.  In other words, yummilicious!  It's substantial and flavorful, a dish the whole family can enjoy.  That prompted me to take a picture for the blog, so I won't forget to make it in the future.  We had it with some chips.  I imagine it will also go well with toasted bread of some sort.