CASSOULET

[vivelafrance]

CASSOULET

Serves 8 as Main Dish.

Growing up in France, I remember the taste of cassoulet from my childhood. Not easy to find cassoulet in small town Virginia....so we took some local products and made our own cassoulet and the result was fabulous. I encourage everyone to use local ingredients, just like the people of the south west of France did, and as such follow the spirit of traditional cassoulet as opposed to reproducing a dish from far away France.

For all of you out there...Menon1971 was my partner in crime...

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cassoulet

• lb navy beans
  
• confit of duck legs
  
• lb smoked surry sausage (or anything local)
  
• lb pork ribs
  
• strips of bacon chopped (surry bacon in our case)
  
• c dry white wine
  
• fl oz 1 can of roma tomatoes chopped with liquid reserved
  
• yellow onion chopped
  
• red onion chopped
  
• shallots chopped
  
• cloves of garlic chopped
  
• bay leaves
  
• 4 sprigs of thyme
  
• T italian parsley chopped
  
• T duck fat
  
• tsp salt (add to taste)
  
• tsp black pepper (add to taste)
  

Confit

• T fresh thyme leaves
  
• T Kosher salt
  
• T freshly ground pepper
  
• c duck fat
  

Stock

• duck carcass cut into pieces
  
• carrots chopped
  
• stalks of celery chopped
  
• yellow onion quartered
  
• sprigs thyme
  
• sprigs parsley
  
• tsp salt
  
• whole peppercorns
  

Making the confit:

You can either bone out the duck yourself or you can have you butcher do it for you. If you do it yourself, remove the legs and the breasts from the duck. Set them aside. Remove the skin and the fat from the remaining duck. That's what you are going to render to make the duck fat. You can then trim the breast and leg fat (keep the skin on though).

Salt the duck legs with coarse salt. Approx. 1Tbsp per duck. Sprinkle the pepper and thyme. Set in covered dish and refrigerate for 6-12 hours.

Chop coarsely the fat and the skin and add them to a sauce pan. Add half a cup of water to the pan. Simmer over low heat until water has evaporated and fat has melted. The skin should turn a light brown. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375F. Brush off excess salt, pepper and thyme from the confit. Place legs in oven proof dish, and cover with duck fat. Place in oven for 45 min. to 1 hour until skin is lightly brown. Remove the legs, set them aside. Strain the fat again and save for future use.

Duck Stock:

Roast the duck carcass pieces for 20 minutes at 375F. Place roasted bones in stock pot with all the ingredients. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 hours, skimming occasionally. Strain the liquid and let cool in order to remove the excess fat. Set aside 4 cups for cassoulet. You can freeze the rest for future use.

Cassoulet:

Add 1 Tbsp of duck fat in a cast iron dutch oven, bring to medium heat and add chopped bacon. When bacon is lightly brown, remove and set aside. Add the sausages to fat, and brown lightly. Set aside. Brown pork on the bone. Set aside. Saute onions, garlic and shallots until transluscent. Deglaze with a cup of white wine. Add rinsed beans, herbs, roma tomatoes (chopped)and liquid from the can, duck stock, salt, pepper, layer your meat on top of beans. Add water in order to cover the beans and meat. Set in a 300F oven for 3-4 hours. Check periodically to insure that the liquids are appropriate. Add water along the way if needed.

Voila....You can refrigerate overnight if you want. It tastes even better the next day!

The duck confit and the duck stock can be made ahead of time and frozen.

As for wine, we recommend a nice Rose D'anjou or a light red like a Beaujolais (Not nouveau!)

Bon Appetit!

Keywords: Beans, Duck, Main Dish, French, Pork

( RG1911 )