Cassoulet, as promised.

[g8ina]

I had a bit of a spurt of cooking on Saturday, found some nice ingredients and then thought out what to cook. The pastitsio was really nice with a deep bodied red wine and some home made crusty bread (Im getting the hang of that too now - olive and coriander bread rising as I type).

So, now as promised on Saturday, here's my go at Cassoulet - a hearty winter dish really, but the pork belly was looking really good and the Toulouse sausages were assaulting my nostrils with their reek of garlic

1 lb pork belly, rind neatly cut off, any bone removed, and the meat cut into 2" chunks.
1lb Toulouse sausages, genuine is best, but I also tried the Tesco finest & ASDA finest some time ago and they ain't too shabby.
1 good smoked garlic pork sausage (Mattesons if you *really* must, otherwise a nice Italian or Spanish type)
1 tin chickpeas
1 tin kidney beans
1 tin flageolet beans
1 tin butter beans
1 tin haricot beans
(or any combination of 5 tins of beans, but NOT baked beans !)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 500g carton passata
1 large glass decent heavy red wine (I used Chateau Bonnet, ASDA £5-99 - also used this in the pastitsio)
1 pint stock - ham is best, otherwise chicken or veg. You may also use cubes)
lots of nice olive oil
lots of nice fat garlic, chopped fine
some oregano and/or basil
salt
pepper

Add a load of olive oil into a large heavy pan and add the pork. Brown it on both sides. Add the Toulouse bangers whole and fry on all sides (if that isn't too daft sounding) and then the smoked sausage fairly finely chopped. When all are browned off add the garlic and herbs and gently fry for another moment or two.

Drain all the liquid out of the cans of beans, wash them VERY well in lots of cold water (this reduces the fart problem btw !) and add to the pan with the tomatoes, passata, stock, wine and salt and pepper top taste. Simmer for another 10 minutes to make sure everything is the right consistency, add more liquid if required, then bung it in the oven of 150C, Gas 3 for 1.5 hours.

Serve with even more crusty bread rubbed with garlic and soused with olive oil.

Or, if you can wait, use my olive and coriander bread, to follow.

[Moby-Dick]

I've made something similar before with dried beans.

I reckon this would be a good one for the slow cooker too

[g8ina]

"Proper" cassoulet uses only haricot beans, and also confit of duck and goose. I tasted this type in France some years ago, but it was fairly bland to my palate.

You shouldn't overcook this either btw, so maybe a slow cooker is not the way to go - I'd be interested in any feedback though

[Moby-Dick]

I may well give it a try , if I can get a good selection of beans for it !

[Zak33]

very good recipe...

[g8ina]

Moby - Sainsbury's have a complete range of all those mentioned.

[Moby-Dick]

I've assembled all the ingredients for this

popped down to my local butchers for some of their own smoked garlic sausage..

I'm looking forward to it!

[Zak33]

results awaited

[Moby-Dick]

Have had a hard days paintballing today , but should be attempting this tommorow

[Moby-Dick]

Its just about ready - smells fantastic !

[Brucelles]

Well?

[awm]

"Proper" cassoulet uses only haricot beans, and also confit of duck and goose. I tasted this type in France some years ago, but it was fairly bland to my palate.

You shouldn't overcook this either btw, so maybe a slow cooker is not the way to go - I'd be interested in any feedback though

I really liked it when I got it in France, I guess tastes vary.

[Moby-Dick]

Very nice indeed - different to ones I've attempted to make before ,as I this one doesn't use onions. Its possibly not the most authentic Cassoulet in the world but it was very good

Brucelles , you're spoilt living in Belgium - was there in March ( not far from Ypres ) and was in near gastronomic heaven