Cassoulet

Every day is wonderful but some days are better than others. One of the best is our annual cassoulet day when I get to indulge in and share with friends my love of cassoulet, the rich cholesterol laden dish of South West France. The origins of this dish are as hotly debated as are the list of ingredients. There is intense rivalry between the cities of Toulouse, Castelnaudary and Carcassonne as to which cities' version is the original and the best. I have tried all three and developed my own version, borrowing a little from each.

The making of cassoulet for our annual cassoulet lunch always starts two weeks prior with the making of the confit of duck. You can always buy confit at a good butcher or specialist food retailer but I prefer to make my own.

The dish itself is complex but not difficult to make if the production is spread over a couple of days. For a Sunday lunch I soak the beans on Friday night, cook the beans and the meat sauce on Saturday then assemble the cassoulet on Sunday morning and place in the oven around 11.00am for serving at 1.00pm. The only accompaniment needed is a fresh green salad.

Ingredients

Part 1, the beans

400 gms haricot or great northern beans

1 ham hock

1 onion, coarsely chopped

2 carrots, coarsely chopped

3 sticks of celery, chopped

1 head of garlic

½ cup of Italian parsley

water to cover

Soak beans overnight in plenty of cold water.

The next day strain and rinse the beans, place in a stockpot with remainder of ingredients and cover with cold water. Bring to boil, skim any scum and simmer until beans are cooked but still slightly firm. 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Remove and discard vegetables, remove ham hock and set aside. Drain beans, reserving stock. Place beans in a bowl, cover and refrigerate until required. Refrigerate stock.

Part 2, the meat and the sauce

350 gms pork shoulder, diced into 5cm cubes

350 gms lamb leg, diced into 5cm cubes

250 gms pork belly, diced into 2cm cubes

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons tomato paste

½ cup of red wine

500 mls chicken or veal stock

salt and pepper to taste

Bring a heavy saucepan or casserole to medium heat and fry pork belly cubes until fat is rendered and the pork is brown. Set pork belly aside and drain off all but 2 tablespoons of fat.

Over medium heat, brown pork shoulder cubes and set aside. Brown lamb cubes and set aside. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of fat.

Gently fry diced onions until soft but not browned (about 20 minutes). Add crushed garlic and briefly fry then add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and stir. Add ½ cup of red wine and stir, scraping up any brown residue. Add cooked meats and cover with stock, topping up with water if necessary. Check and adjust seasoning. Cover and cook in a 140C oven for 1 ½ hours.

Part 3, the assembly

2 duck confit marylands

reserved ham hock

500gm Toulouse sausage from a specialist butcher or you can use Italian pork sausages

4 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 cups of fresh sourdough breadcrumbs

duck fat from confit

additional salt and pepper if required

In a frypan, brown duck over low heat until warmed through. Set aside until cool enough to handle then strip meat in chunks from bones. In the same frypan, brown sausages on all sides and set aside.

Add duck to the meat sauce. Strip meat from ham hock and add this to the meat sauce. Cut sausages into quarters and add to sauce also.

Generously rub the inside of a large casserole with the garlic cloves. I use a large, deep lasagne dish (320mm x 220mm x90mm) which is perfect for this quantity which generously serves eight people.

Place half the beans into the casserole then pour over the sauce containing the meats. Top with the remaining half of the beans. Remove any fat on the reserved bean stock and pour enough over the beans to just over them. Check and adjust the seasoning.

Cover lightly with a layer of breadcrumbs, slightly moistened with a little liquid duck fat. Place in a 160C oven and cook uncovered for 1 to 1 ½ hours , pushing the breadcrumb crust down into the sauce slightly every 15 to 20 minutes and adding another thin layer of breadcrumbs each time. Do this for the first hour then bake until bubbling and golden.

Serve into wide flat bowls.