CASSOULET

Prep/Cooking Time: Longer Than 120 Minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

Beans
Peel the carrots, celery and onions
Finely chop the vegetables, they can be chopped roughly and uneven as they will cook down
Take 120g of each and place into a cooking pot
Add to the pot the soaked beans and cover with cold water
Bring the pot to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes
Remove from the heat and separate the beans from the liquid

Crumbs
Slice the bread roughly 1'' thick and lay on a baking tray
Drizzle the bread with olive oil and season with the salt and pepper
Place in the oven at 260f for 35 minutes or until the bread is dry through and golden
Remove from the oven and leave to cool
Once cool place the bread into a blender and pulse to make a rough crumb texture
Reserve at room temperature in an air tight container till needed

Cassoulet
Over a medium flame heat the olive oil in a thick bottom pan
Cut the slab bacon to a 1" dice and add to the pan
Now cut the sausage into 2'' pieces and add them to the pan also
Cook stirring occasionally until the bacon and sausage pieces are well browned
Peel the garlic and slice as thinly as possible, add to the pan
Cook for a minute and then add the rest of the finely chopped carrots, onion and celery
Stir well and cook till the vegetables begin to color
Add the roughly chopped tomatoes followed by the tomato paste
Mix well and add the herbs to the pan
Cook for a minute before adding the red wine
Once the wine is added reduce by simmering for 5 minutes
The sauce will thicken as the tomato paste cooks
After 5 minutes add the bean liquor and bring to the boil
Add the beans to the pot and bring to the simmer
Cover the pot and place in the oven at 360f
Cook for 90 minutes or until the beans are tender to the bite
Once cooked remove from the heat and leave to cool naturally