Cassoulet - Seasonal Recipe

Cassoulet

🌍 Seasonal, Winter Difficulty: ●●●○○

Cassoulet is the great culinary argument of southwest France — Castelnaudary, Carcassonne, and Toulouse each claim the original; the dish traces to the Hundred Years' War when peasants fed soldiers from communal bean pots, and the debate about its ingredients remains alive and contentious.

Ingredients

• 500g (2½ cups) dried white beans (lingot, haricot, or Great Northern), soaked overnight
• 4 duck confit legs (or duck legs braised in duck fat)
• 400g (14 oz) Toulouse sausages (or garlic pork sausages)
• 200g (7 oz) thick-cut bacon or salt pork, cubed
• 1 can (400g/392g (14 oz)) crushed tomatoes
• 1 large onion, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1.5 litres (6 cups) chicken or duck stock
• 1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaves, parsley)
• Salt and black pepper
• 120g (2 cups) coarse fresh breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp duck fat or butter
• 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. Draining — Drain soaked beans. Simmer in fresh water with bouquet garni for 45 minutes until just tender (not soft). Drain; reserve liquid.
2. Preheating — Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F). In a large Dutch oven, brown bacon until crispy; remove. Brown sausages all over; remove.
3. Step 3 — In the same fat, sauté onion and carrots until soft. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes. Add tomatoes; cook 5 minutes.
4. Adding — Add beans, stock, and reserved bean liquid to cover. Nestle in duck confit, sausages, and bacon. Top should be just covered with liquid.
5. Covering — Cover and bake 2 hours. Remove lid; stir in the crust that has formed.
6. Tossing — Toss breadcrumbs with duck fat and parsley; spread over the top. Bake uncovered 45–60 more minutes until a golden crust forms. The tradition is to break and stir the crust back into the cassoulet 3 times as it bakes.
7. Resting — Rest 20 minutes. Serve from the pot.

Tags: dried white beans, duck confit legs, toulouse sausages, thick-cut bacon or salt pork, ) crushed tomatoes · Source: Brittani's Almanac