A panade is one of those dishes that is way better than it has any right to be -- or than it looks to be. It's an assembly of day-old bread, shredded cheese, and handy pantry ingredients (in this case, cranberry beans, swiss chard, and sausage) that gets doused with broth and baked until bubbly. Not quite a soup and not quite a casserole, it's something more: the best of both worlds.

The only real draw-back to panades, in my opinion, is that they take so long to bake that I'm always starving by the time it's ready. This is where my friend the slow cooker comes in.
I make all the main ingredients the night before -- toasting the bread, cooking the filling, even shredding the cheese -- and then assemble everything the next day in the slow cooker. I think the panade is best when cooked for six hours on the HIGH setting, but cutting it back to four hours or slowing it down for eight hours on LOW is also ok. Ten hours is doable, but you might start to get a little burning around the edges.
Be forewarned: this recipe make a lot. It's perfect for feeding a crowd or making a week's worth of meals ahead of time. It also freezes surprisingly well, though it looks even more rustic once re-heated! I recommend freezing in individual containers and reheating in a bowl in the microwave.

Cheesy Panade with Swiss Chard, Beans & Sausage
Serves 6-8 as a main dish or 8-10 as a side dish
1 16-ounce loaf crusty country bread
1 onion, diced
1 12-ounce bunch swiss chard, stems removed and chopped, leaves ribboned
2 links chicken sausage, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dry thyme (or 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh)
3 cups (2 16-ounce cans) cranberry, navy, or white beans
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella
6 cups chicken stock
Heat the oven to 350°F. Slice the bread into cubes roughly 1-inch in size. Toss the cubes with a drizzle of olive oil and a healthy sprinkle of salt, and spread them out in a single layer on one or two baking sheets. Toast in the oven, stirring once or twice, until completely dry and golden, 30-40 minutes. Set aside and let cool. Make-ahead: Bread can be toasted and stored in an airtight container up to a day ahead.
Warm a teaspoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt, and cook until the onions have softened and started turning golden, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped chard stems and the sausage, and continue cooking until the stems are softened, another 3-5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and thyme, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer the onion mixture to a clean bowl.
Warm another teaspoon of oil in the pan and stir in the chard leaves with a healthy pinch of salt. If the pan looks dry, add two teaspoons of water. Cover the pan and let the chard steam for 2-3 minutes. Remove the lid and stir. Repeat as needed until the chard is completely wilted and tastes tender. Stir the chard into the onion mixture and set aside. Make-ahead: The onion mixture can be kept refrigerated for up to three days.
To assemble the panade, scatter 1/3 of the bread cubes on the bottom of a 6- to 7-quart slow cooker (See Recipe Notes for oven directions). Spread 1/3 of the onion and chard mixture and 1 cup of the beans over the top. Scatter 1/3 of the cheese over the entire layer. Repeat to make three total layers, reserving the last 1/3 of the cheese for later. Pour the stock evenly over the top of the panade.
Cover the slow cooker and cook for 4-6 hours on HIGH or 8 hours on LOW. Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the panade in the last 15 minutes of cooking. Serve in bowls.
Recipe Notes:
- Oven Directions: Assemble the panade in a 9x13 casserole dish or Dutch oven. Cover with foil or a lid, and bake at 350°F for 45 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese, and continue baking uncovered for another 15 minutes.
- Freezing Leftovers: Freeze leftover panade in individual containers. Re-heat in the microwave on HIGH for 5-7 minutes, stirring once or twice during cooking.
Related: Casseroles from Around the World: Lasagna, Panade, Sformato
(Images: Emma Christensen)

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Comments (16)
Recommend making the leftover panade into cakes and sauteing into crispness on the stove--delicious for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
Seems to me like a savory bread pudding. What can be wrong with that?
I don't get the slow cooker thing. How is having a large hot object parked on your counter all night more convenient than sticking something in the oven for an hour?
My new fantastic and modern slow cooker just arrived and I just happen to have some day old bread and swiss chard lying around. Found my project for the day!
@andypucko,
Obviously, you've not used one. A lot of recipes require hours to cook, stove top cooking for hours means you have to tend to it periodically.
Even in the oven, there is time bake, but often you still have to tend to it periodically. The slow cooker is generally a set it, and forget it appliance whereby you get the browning done, assemble in the pot and turn it on the next morning just before you leave for work and have a hot meal when you get home.
Granted, not all meals will require 6-8 hours of cooking time, but for those that do, it's great, especially when you aren't home to tend to it while it cooks.
@andypucko For people who aren't home all day, it's a great appliance! I don't use it every day, but I work and by the time I get home, I only have an hour to make, eat, and clean up dinner before my son's bedtime. But with a slow cooker, I can have braised chicken, or a pot roast, or stew, or soup that I would otherwise only get on the weekends. Even sometimes on the weekends I use it because it means we can go out and do things in the afternoon rather than have to stay home cooking. (I don't leave my gas stove or oven on while I'm not there--doesn't feel safe to me.)
This recipe looks so winter-friendly! After shoveling snow three times today, I really want to try it. Any suggestions for a vegetarian-friendly sub for the sausage? I'm just leaning vegetarian fare, and need advice.
interesting. never heard of this. but we love cottage potatoes which is cheese, potatoes, and bread cubes baked together. THat gets baked uncovered and I like the resulting texture. I think the slow cooker would keep too much moisture in - but I'll probably try it per the recipe first.
Gosh @ciddyguy, I've owned two of them and I still don't know why you would want to burn up valuable counter space making something that's "perfect for feeding a crowd." I should think if you had a bunch of peeps over eating this stuff and party-ing and whatnot counter space would tend to get really important.
And setting and forgetting an electrical appliance is asking for trouble if you ask me, if only because you might forget you started it at all, leaving a mess to clean up and garbage to serve your guests, not to mention even scarier possibilities like short circuits and fires...
@andypucko
When you have a job, house to clean, laundry to do, yard to maintain, cooking, tending kids and family, pets to care for, dishes to wash, errands to run, commute to work, plus many other 'home' tasks, this unit is a must! A woman's work is never done.
Amen.
This sounds delish. My gripe with slow cookers is this: I work 8 hours a day, and with commuting time I am away from home 9 hours a day. Most slow cooker recipes require considerably shorter cooking times, which means for working folks the results are disappointingly overcooked. I am always looking for slow cooker recipes that can take 9 hours of cooking!
zuza, I have the same problem, (although I frequently use my slow cooker and love it anyway, even if it means leaving something on low for 10 hours). I'm considering getting one that's programmable, where I can put it on the counter in the morning on low, and it will switch to the Keep Warm setting after 6 hours.
HI,
Check out www.crockpotking.com, they have a ton of recipes, but it's not broken down in the sense of which recipe would take 9 hrs to cook. With that said they have a ton of resources. Also try to keep a note on the last recipe you cooked, and subtract a 1/2 hr. Each time. Also take a look at CPK's temp page that should help you out!
Hi,
Thank you sooo much for the recipe, I'll definitely spread the word.
For those with the issue of it taking too long I've used a simple light timer that I plug it into. The cooking stops after the right amount of time and you just have to heat it up a bit.