Ingredients: 140 grams pork rind, 140
grams smoked streaky bacon, 300 grams garlic sausages, 600
grams dried haricot beans (soaked overnight in 3 times
their
volume of wate), 1 celery stick, 1 small onion (preferably
a white skinned mild one), 1 large carrot, 6 garlic
cloves,
2 ripe plum tomatoes, 25 grams goose fat or 2 tbsp olive
oil, 1 bouquet garni, 8 pinches of sea salt, 2 pinches of
freshly ground black pepper,
1 clove (lightly crushe), 2 teaspoons lemon juic. To finish: 4 confit ducks legs, 60 grams goose fat
or 2 tbsp olive oil, 40 grams dried breadcrumbs, 1 garlic
clove (finely chopped), a handful of fresh flat leaf
parsley (coarsely chopped).
1. To cut the meats, roll up the pork rind like a Swiss
roll.
With the seam underneath, use a very sharp knife to cut
the roll across into
thin slices, then chop the rolled-up slices across into
dice. Chop the bacon
into small cubes (lardons). Cut the garlic sausage into
1cm thick slices.
2. Drain the soaked beans and discard the soaking water.
Tip
the beans into a large saucepan, add the diced pork rind
and lardons and cover
with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil and blanch for
15-20 minutes. Drain
the beans, rind and lardons into a colander, and discard
the cooking water.
3. Roughly chop the celery, onion and carrot. Peel the
garlic
cloves but leave them whole. Cut each tomato into eight
wedges. (You never see
tomatoes in a traditional cassoulet, but chef Raymond
Blanc likes them for
their colour and sweetness, so he puts a couple in.)
Preheat the oven to
120C/fan.
4. Heat the goose fat or olive oil in a 26cm flameproof
casserole or deep overproof sauté pan over a low
heat and sweat the celery,
onion, carrot and garlic for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes
and bouquet garni and
cook slowly to get a sugary caramelisation (about 5
minutes). Add the sausage,
beans, pork rind and lardons and pour in 1.2 litres/2
pints water. Bring to the
boil, skim off the scum, then add the salt, pepper, clove
and lemon juice.
5. Transfer the casserole to the oven and cook, uncovered,
for
2 hours, stirring every hour. At the end of this time, the
beans will be soft
and creamy in texture and the juices should have
thickened. You may need to
cook it for longer than 2 hours (say up to 2½
hours) to get to this stage - it
depend.
6. Remove the cassoulet from the oven. Bury the duck legs
in
the beans and sprinkle over the goose fat or olive oil,
breadcrumbs and garlic.
Return to the oven and cook for a further 2 hours. Serve
the cassoulet in
bowls, sprinkled with chopped parsley.
