Blue Belle Inn B&B Chicken Cassoulet with Wild Rice & Provolone Cheese

Sherrie, your ingredient combination sounds interesting but doesn't represent what I equate with a traditional cassoulet. A cassoulet, in my experience, usually contains primarily beans using traditional meats like goose, duck, lamb/mutton or pork.

The sherry and soy combination with water chestnuts brings an Asian touch to the dish and the rice took me eastward also. However, the cheeses are Italian. Personally it's hard for me to imagine the Asian sauce with Italian cheese, but I might toss a few things together this afternoon to see if I can get an idea of what this tastes like.

All in all, this seems to have potential for an interesting meal. If I saw it on a menu and it was called Cassoulet or Cassolet, though, I would be disappointed because this isn't what I would have expected. I might rename it for your menu.

I LOVE your fusion idea! This is VERY similar to a dish you might find in the Northern Michigan area, there isn't much they don't do with cherries.

I would order this one!

Featured in Shannon's Cookbook.

I can't say that I would order this.

Sounds good.

Have to wait for winter--but it sounds good. Not cassoulet though as Donna said.

Sounds very delicious to me!!

Sounds good and I'm starving.

Sounds fantastic to me, Sherrie!

I'm not sure about this Sherrie, think I might have to sample it before I got it for a meal. Sounds interesting though.

Sounds yummy to me! I'd order it. Stir in a can of Cannellini beans and still call it cassoulet.

Throw a little bacon in there and I'll be knocking your door down!!!

I don't know about soy sauce with the fruit. Just doesn't seem appealing, but I wouldn't know wiithout tasting.

And it would have to have beans to be a cassoulet.

My mouth is watering!
Make me want to go start dinner, we're just having soft tacos,
But man you just made me hungry.

Once again, I am humbled and awed by the extent of your knowledge. I had no idea a cassoulet had to include beans. I assumed a casserole was a casserole, whether in French or English. And then, I made things worse by spelling it wrong, along with several other words, in my rush to post from work. I am sorry.

I choose Provolone Cheese because I had a block, and because I once had a turkey sandwich with cherry chutney and provolone, and the slightly smoky flavor of the provolone tasted great with the poultry and cherries.

I used a can of cream of mushroom soup as the base for my casserole (sorry if that offends anyone) and some delicious chicken broth. The soy was light, not at all overwhelming, added just to perk things up a bit. The rice was Uncle Ben's Wild Rice, with herbs, and in my opinion, not at all oriental in flavor. More earthy, nutty, harvesty.

The details in a menu description are sketchy. Maybe too. Maybe not enough. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the soy. I stand by my decision to add a squirt or two. It tasted good.

That's the scary thing about menu descriptions. Once wrong word, and people are turned off. I have sold or not sold dozens of dishes based on a simple rewording of the description. I wouldn't have put it on the menu if it weren't good... conveying that goodness, the complexity of flavors, in a few short words, is another thing entirely. I grow increasingly intimidated by menus.

We served a seafood dish this week that everyone raves about - as soon as they taste it, they absolutely love it. Hardly anyone ever orders it, but when they do, they love it. I obviously need to work up a new description.

I'm a writer. I should be able to do this.

Anyway, I appreciate your help! You guys rock!

Sounds like something I would try.....

YUM, sounds lovely, Sherrie ... I might take out the water chestnuts and soy sauce ... or maybe just not include the soy in your description. I love the chicken/wild rice/apple/cherry/sherry combination ... mmmm!

Oh .... and I wouldn't say filled to the lid. Maybe brim?

A few people question the soy sauce. I think it is fine, but maybe you might consider using Worcestershire sauce instead. I don't use it much, but it is really good, too.

Not sure if I would like it or not

You've the most loveliest way of presenting things.

Sounds yummy to me!

wow, Sherrie... mmmm sounds great...

Well, at least I learned what a cassoulet is! Sounds good to me!

You can make anything sound good! :)