Few things in life are more comforting than a well-made cassoulet. It’s very nice with a Languedoc red wine, too. You can stir the crust multiple times to thicken the whole dish, although purists may disagree.
Serves 4
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, sliced
200g/7oz streaky bacon, chopped
4 kid chops or cutlets
8 kid sausages (or use 4 pork sausages)
1 x 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes
handful of breadcrumbs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
for the beans
350g/2 cups dried white haricot (navy) beans, soaked overnight in cold water
2 kid shanks
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 carrot, peeled and halved
3 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
Drain the beans and add to a large pan with the shanks, halved onion and carrot, bay and garlic. Add enough water to cover and bring to the boil. Skim off any scum that appears, turn down to a gentle simmer and cook for about 1 hour or until the beans are almost tender, making sure the beans remain covered with water.
Drain the beans and shanks, reserving the cooking liquor and discarding the onion, carrot, bay and garlic. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the shanks and chop into large pieces.
Preheat the oven to 140°C/280°F/gas mark 1½.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the chopped onions and sliced garlic and cook for 10 minutes or until soft. Add the bacon, chops and sausages to the onions and cook for 5 minutes, or until just browning. Add the tomatoes with salt and pepper to taste, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until rich and thick. Stir through the shank meat.
Spread half the meat mixture in the base of a deep casserole and cover with half the beans. Add the remaining meat, then the rest of the beans. Top up with enough of the reserved bean cooking liquor to just cover.
Sprinkle over half the breadcrumbs and bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour. Stir the crust that has formed back into the cassoulet and top with the rest of the breadcrumbs. Return to the oven for a further 1 hour until the crust is golden, increasing the temperature for the final 10 minutes if the crust needs more browning. Serve straight from the oven.