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Cassoulet
Cassoulet is a very heavy dish and length to prepare, so always start the day before!
Serves 8
STOCK
1Kg Pork bones (from loin, belly or chest)
2 pig's trotters
1Kg shin of veal
1kg chicken pieces
3 litres water
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks, peeled and roughly chopped
1 leek, washed and chopped
1 garlic bulb, peeled and chopped
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
BEANS
750g dried white kidney beans, soaked overnight
100g pork loin fat, cut into strips
1.5 litres of water
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 garlic bulb, halved
MEATS
4 small duck legs
1Kg piece of pork (loin, belly or chest)
150g course sea salt
3 juniper berries, crushed
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 dessertspoon black peppercorns, crushed
8 toulouse sausages
SAUTÉ
2 tablespoons cooking fat, from the pork and duck
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 large tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 sprig fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
175g white breadcrumbs
1. For the stock, ask your butcher to chop the pork into small pieces. Put the trotters, veal, chicken and all the bones into a large, lidded saucepan. Cover them with cold water and bring to the boil. Add the vegetables, garlic, herbs and peppercorns, and bring back to the boil. Skim off any fat that rises to the surface and turn the stock down to a simmer. Cook, covered, for at least 4 hours, until the meat starts to fall off the shin.
2. Strain the stock into another saucepan and boil to reduce the liquid by half. You need 1.5 litres of finish stock for 8 people.
3. Wash the beans and stain, then place in a saucepan, cover with more water and bring to the boil. Cook at a rapid boil for 5 minutes, then strain again.
4. Put the beans back into the pan, add the pork fat and cover with water. Ad the thyme, bay leaf and garlic, and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for about 1.5 hours, until tender and nearly all the water has evaporated. Most of the fat will have been absorbed into the beans; remove what's left. Pick out the bay leaf, thyme and garlic, and discard. Set he beans aside.
5. Put the duck legs in a keep roasting tin. With a knife, remove the rind from the pork and add the meat to the tin. Mix the salt, juniper berries, thyme, bay leaf, garlic and peppercorns, and sprinkle over the duck and pork. Cover the tin with Clingfilm and put in the fridge overnight.
6. In the morning, remove the bay leaf and thyme and, under cold running water, wash all the salt from the duck and pork. Dry the meat on a clean tea-towel.
7. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180ºC / 350OF/ Gas 4, then roast the duck and pork for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the meat from the oven, cut the duck legs in half and slice the pork into 8 pieces roughly 1cm thick, then set aside on a plate.
8. For the sauté, heat the fat in a frying pan, add the onion and fry until golden. Add the tomatoes, garlic, thyme and bay leaves, and cook for 5 minutes. Tip the mixture into a large casserole dish.
9. Preheat the oven to 200OC/400OF/Gas 6.
10. In a frying pan, brown the sausages in some more of the fat and place them in the casserole.
11. Pour in the stock, then place the pork and duck in the casserole, and sprinkle in the beans. Cover with the breadcrumbs and cook in the oven for about an hour until crisp and golden. Serve.
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