Cassoulet

Cassoulet

serves 4
This recipe uses duck and Toulouse style sausages.

Duck and Toulouse sausage cassoulet

Duck and Toulouse sausage cassoulet

 300g dried haricot or cannellini beans, soaked overnight.
1 small duck (cut off breast and legs and cut into 8 pieces. Use carcass to make stock)
4 good sized tasty sausages (Toulouse or similar)
2 medium sized onions or 6 shallots (peeled and cut into bite sized chunks)
2 carrots (peeled and cut into chunks)
4 cloves garlic
Bayleaf
Thyme / sage / rosemary ( a few sprigs of one or all)
6 juniper berries
Salt to taste
2 oz butter
2 tbs chopped parsley
1 tsp french mustard
Thanks to Helen Peacocke who popped into 1 High Street to photograph the Cassoulet!
  1. Make stock with the carcass (optional)
  2. Brown the duck portions. quickly (you should not need any fat for this, start with the skin side). Remove from pan
  3. Add the onions, carrots and 2 cloves of garlic roughly sliced.
  4. Brown quickly.
  5. Add some stock to deglaze.
  6. In a large casserole dish add duck, soaked and drained beans, onion, carrots and fried garlic, herbs and juniper berries. Do not add the salt as this will prevent the beans from cooking properly.
  7. Cover the ingredients in the casserole dish with duck stock or water and then add more liquid to about 3cm above the ingredients (do not use a stock with salt).
  8. Cover the casserole dish and place in a preheated medium/low oven for 2 – 3 hours, until the beans are soft.
  9. Brown the sausages, add to the duck and beans, top up with more liquid if looking dry and cook for a further 30 minutes.
  10. Chop the remaining 2 cloves of garlic and mix with butter, chopped parsley and mustard.
  11. After the cassoulet is cooked, remove from oven and stir in the butter mixture just before serving . Taste and add salt if necessary.

    This is delicious served with crusty granary or sour dough bread and a glass of red wine!

Instead of  duck you can use chicken or belly pork. If using chicken, add it 1 hour before the end of cooking. Use any tasty sausage you fancy.

Message from Cornucopia

1 High Street, Eynsham

Cornucopia Cooks, 1 High Street, Eynsham

Monday 30th May 2011.

Tuesday, 1st of June,  is the day we hope to hear from the planning department RE: application for change of use of 1 High Street, which will enable Cornucopia Cooks to launch the private dining and cooking classes. Fingers (and toes) crossed!

Look out for what’s cooking next week, a whole range of healthy salads and cake to counteract.

If you have any suggestions of what you would like to have cooked, let me know.

Kind regards

Sandy