Clubfoodys Cassoulet Recipes

Steps:

• Drain the beans and put into a large heavy casserole, preferably enameled cast iron, with bacon, pork rind, garlic, 1 onion, the carrot, and the bouquet garni. Cover with the 10 cups of water and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat, stirring often, until beans are barely tender, about 1 hour. Drain and return to casserole, discarding onion and bouquet garni.
• Add the remaining onion, the duck legs, demi-glace mixture, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.
• Drain the bean mixture in a colander over a bowl and reserve 5 cups of the cooking liquid. Discard bacon and pork rind. Remove the duck legs and cut each in half at the joint. Season beans with 1 teaspoon salt and a few grindings of pepper.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Place half the bean mixture in casserole. Add duck legs, duck sausage, and garlic sausage, and cover with remaining beans. Add reserved cooking liquid and drizzle the duck fat over the top. Cover and bake until hot and bubbling, about 2 hours. (Cassoulet may be prepared ahead to this point, then cooled and refrigerated for up to 3 days. If refrigerated, bring to room temperature before proceeding).
• Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Uncover cassoulet and bake until top is browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.

Steps:

• Sort beans and rinse with cold water. In a Dutch oven or soup kettle, combine the beans, water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; boil, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 1 to 4 hours or until beans are softened. Do not drain., Stir in broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels; drain, reserving 2 tablespoons drippings. In the same skillet, brown chicken in reserved drippings on all sides; drain and set aside., In a 3-qt. baking dish or Dutch oven, combine the beans with cooking liquid, bacon, carrots, onion, tomatoes, celery, garlic, salt, marjoram, sage and pepper. Place whole cloves on a double thickness of cheesecloth; bring up corners of cloth and tie with string to form a bag. Add to bean mixture; top with chicken., Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour. Uncover; add sausage. Bake 30-35 minutes longer or until beans are tender. Discard bay leaf and spice bag. Garnish with parsley.

Steps:

• Soak Great Northern beans in water in a large bowl overnight. Drain beans and place into a large soup pot. Push whole clove into the 1/2 onion and add to beans; stir in garlic, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, and 10 cups water. Bring beans to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat until beans have started to soften, about 1 hour. Drain beans and reserve the cooking liquid, removing and discarding onion with clove and bay leaf. Transfer beans to a large mixing bowl.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Cook bacon in a large, heavy Dutch oven over medium heat until lightly browned and still limp, about 5 minutes. Stir celery, carrots, and 1/2 diced onion into bacon; season with salt. Cook and stir vegetables in the hot bacon fat until tender, about 10 minutes.
• Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat; brown sausage link halves and duck confit in the hot oil until browned, about 5 minutes per side.
• Season vegetable-bacon mixture with 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, cracked black pepper, and herbes de Provence; pour in diced tomatoes. Cook and stir mixture over medium heat until juice from tomatoes has nearly evaporated and any browned bits of food on the bottom of pot have dissolved, about 5 minutes. Stir mixture into beans.
• Spread half the bean mixture into the heavy Dutch oven and place duck-sausage mixture over the beans; spread remaining beans over meat layer. Pour just enough of the reserved bean liquid into pot to reach barely to the top of the beans, reserving remaining liquid. Bring bean cassoulet to a simmer on stovetop and cover Dutch oven with lid.
• Bake bean cassoulet in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add 4 crushed garlic cloves, panko crumbs, and parsley to the melted butter. Season with salt and black pepper, and drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over crumbs. Stir to thoroughly combine.
• Uncover cassoulet and check liquid level; mixture should still have several inches of liquid. If beans seem dry, add more of the reserved bean liquid. Spread half the crumb mixture evenly over the beans and return to oven. Cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes. There should be about 2 or 3 inches of liquid at the bottom of the pot; if mixture seems dry, add more reserved bean mixture. Sprinkle remaining half the bread crumb mixture over cassoulet.
• Turn oven heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake cassoulet, uncovered, until crumb topping is crisp, edges are bubbling, and the bubbles are slow and sticky, 20 to 25 more minutes. Serve beans on individual plates and top each serving with a piece of duck and several sausage pieces.

Steps:

• Set the slow cooker to low (ours had a 5-litre capacity). Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat and brown the sausages on each side - you don't have to cook them all the way through. Set aside on a plate. Put the lardons, onion and celery in the pan and cook over a medium heat for 8-10 mins until the onion is translucent and the lardons crisp. Stir in the garlic, paprika and thyme, and fry for 3 mins.
• Pour in the wine and simmer until reduced by half, around 5-10 mins. Tip in the chopped tomatoes, stock, both lots of beans, the sugar and vinegar. Stir until combined and bring to the boil. Pour into the slow cooker with the sausages. Cover and cook for 6-8 hrs. Serve with crusty bread.

Steps:

• Drain the soaked beans, transfer to a large pot and pour in enough cold water to cover the beans by 2-inches; add salt. Bring it to a boil and when it gets there, reduce the heat; simmer for 45 minutes, skimming off the foam. When cooked, drain them well and if desired, collect the broth; set aside.
• Season lamb cubes and drumsticks with salt and pepper; set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350ºF/177ºC.
• In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add duck fat and when it gets hot, add cured salt pork. Cook until brown, stirring continuously, about 5 to 6 minutes. When it's done, scoop it up into a large bowl, using a slotted spoon; set aside.
• Reduce the heat to medium and add the sausage pieces; sauté until brown. Scoop the meat out of the pot and add it to the pork.
• Return to the Dutch oven and add drumsticks. Cook until brown all around and no longer pink. Transfer the drumsticks to the bowl along with the other meats.
• Add lamb cubes to the pot and sauté until nicely browned, about 3 to 4 minutes. Scoop them up with a slotted spoon, add to the bowl as well and set aside.
• Skim off most of the fat from the pot to a bowl, leaving about 2 tbsp.; set aside. Add onions and sauté until just translucent, about 2 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot to dislodge any brown bits. To this, add carrots and celery; sauté them for 2 minutes. Cover and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Add garlic and sauté for only 1 minute. Add chopped tomatoes and stir to combine before seasoning with Herbes de Provence, thyme leaves and freshly ground black pepper; stir until mixed.
• Return all the meat to the pot including any accumulated juices. Add beans, white wine and chicken broth or broth from the beans if preferred. With the back of a spoon, press it down to cover the beans with the liquid. Make a little well in the center and add our bay leaves; cover back with the beans. Spoon about 2 to 3 tablespoons of the reserved fat on top, crack more pepper and add salt.
• Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 3 hours. Half an hour later, press down again on the beans to submerge them to prevent from drying out; continue cooking for another 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile in a bowl, combine Panko breadcrumbs with fresh chopped parsley; mix well and set aside.
• When 30 minutes is up, evenly sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture on top. Return the pot to the oven and cook for 1 hour.
• 60 minutes later, gently press down on the breadcrumbs to help absorb some liquid. Return the pot to the oven for the remaining hour.
• When the time is up, remove from the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.