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I make an all-vegetable version that's more stew than casserole but it's received nothing but praise. The beans enrich the broth and make it as smooth as velvet. It's also a sort of thrown-together recipe, no provided you have some basic ingredients and remember to soak your beans night before, it comes together relatively quickly (for cassoulet at least).

I use a pound of very large, flat white beans. I've seen them called Gigantes or Limas. The package has a rabbit on them. They are some of the best beans of my life: their high surface to mass ratio means they cook quickly and also soften perfectly all the way through while releasing all their starch. They are dried beans at their best. Use these. If making a double batch (which is HUGE), change up the texture with a pound of kidney beans as well.

For a pound of beans I like to medium dice a "cutting board" full of mirepoix: onions, celery, and carrot in a 2:1:1 ratio such that when piled up they fill a large cutting board about the size of a cookie sheet. Sweat these in a very large Dutch oven with LOTS of olive oil and about 20-30 cloves chopped garlic (I buy the pre-peeled garlic in boxes--yes, from China, but so's a lot of whole garlic, and shipping in volume makes up for it, at least in my rationalized head--and you can chop them in the food processor). When the vegetables are soft and intensely aromatic, add the pre-soaked beans and a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes with enough water to cover along with lots of thyme and rosemary, then simmer till the beans are melting and the sauce has thickened a bit.

Meanwhile, take about four to five slices of stale bread, crumble them, and fry them in lots of olive oil till crisp, adding another 10-15 chopped garlic cloves in the last thirty seconds, and use as topping for the cassoulet. Then sit back and enjoy your intensely vegetal and homey dinner.

This is definitely a day-of stew; the lightness/richness balance gets thrown out of whack and the garlic dominates. It freezes less well. But if you're going through the trouble of making cassoulet-ish as I've come to call it, you may as well have leftovers for lunch for the next couple of days. You could halve the recipe pretty easily, and if you're really pressed for time could use canned beans. I know there's plenty of debate on the canned/dried beans divide, and while not every bean dish is worth the dried investment, this one definitely is, and the beans cook perfectly every time. And hey, if you want something meatier, do what Smitten Kitchen did (http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/03/vegetarian-cassoulet/)--add sausage!

I have tried this recipe before. Perfect for weeknights.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/thomas-kellers-slow-cooker-cassoulet.html