nostalgia... cassoulet

You may recall that I rave about the 'halles de hugo' and the amazing cassoulet served up in Toulouse. Well, my new best, cullinary "friend", ' Rick Stein' inspired me yet again to recreate the cullinary delights of France in my own kitchen.

Now, this is how it all started, the week previously I had superbly cooked a duck with the help of Kylie Kwong and had left overs that I had frozen. drumsticks, wings, neck... what to do with these fabulously tasty little morsels, why make cassoulet of course.

To make cassoulet I first preheated the oven to 180 degrees celcius. you really need a heavy based cast iron crock pot to cook this dish. Heat 2 tbsps of duck fat in the pan with a sprinkling of olive oil, so that the fat doesn't burn, and gently fry a whole head worth of finely sliced garlic and 1 large diced onion, cook until soft but not brown. Add 500g of pork belly cut into 3rds to the pot and cover with one and a half litres of water ( you can use a light stock, although this might be overpowering, I used half water and half chicken stock).
The flavour from this dish is subtle but built in layers so it is really important to make a hearty bouquet garni.
to make the bouquet garni, use twine to tie together celery stalks, leek, bay leaves, thyme sprigs and parsley stalks. Add this to the stock and bring to the boil.

skim any scum from the surface of the dish and then place, covered in the oven for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, I fried some toulouse sausages ( pure pork italian sausages will work just as well) until half cooked, slice diagonally into 3rds and set aside. I also pan fried the leftover duck pieces to crisp the skin and reinvigorate the flavours in the duck.

After 1 hour, take the cassoulet out of the oven and increase the oven temperature to 220 degrees celcius. Remove the bouquet garni, and add the sausage and duck to the pot, making sure to push the pieces to the bottom of the pot.

Top the lot with 2 or 3 cans of drained cannellini beans, to create an even layer over the top of the dish.

Return the cassoulet to the oven, uncovered for 45 minutes or until the beans have formed a deliciously golden brown crust on the cassoulet.

Serve hot with a glass of chilled Rosé wine and if necessary crunchy slices of baguette slathered with either butter or dijon mustard.