Cassoulet De Toulouse

Thank you Sarah for this traditional Toulouse (France) winter stew:

Ingredients

1kg Haricot Beans
1 Onion Stuck With 2 Cloves
10 Cloves of Garlic
1 Bouquet Garni
1 Pork Trotter Cut Lengthwise
1kg Leg or Shoulder of Lamb (Boned)
1.5kg Loin or Shoulder of Pork (Boned)
8 to 10 Little Sausages 1 Cooked Garlic Sausage
200g Pork Fat, Finely Chopped
100ml Red Wine
1 Tablespoon Thyme
2 Teaspoons Tomato Concentrate
Bread Crumbs
Salt & Pepper

Method

1. Soak Haricot beans for 12 hours in cold salted water.
2. In a large casserole, put 2 litres of water, a teaspoon of salt, the onion, the whole garlic, the bouquet garni and the pigs trotter. Rinse the Haricots and add them to the casserole. Bring to the boil, skim carefully and let it cook over a low heat until the Haricot beans are tender but still firm. (It will take about 30 minutes. Don't let them over cook).
3. While the beans are cooking, season the lamb and roast it for an hour and a half in a slow oven (150º C) basting occasionally with red wine. Let it cool and then transfer the cooking juice from the meat into a bowl, which you leave in the refrigerator just until the fat has condensed on the surface. Remove the layer of fat and discard it.
4. When the roast meat has cooled, cut it into 5 cm pieces. Put aside. Cook the sausages in the water for five minutes. Cut them into thick slices of about 1 cm.
5. Mix together the chopped garlic, with the thyme and the pepper.
6. Remove the skin from the pigs trotter; then chop the flesh into pieces. Strain the beans and keep the cooking water. Discard the bouquet garni, the onion and the garlic.
7. At the bottom of an ovenproof dish, put a layer of Haricot beans, sprinkle a little of the garlic thyme mixture. On top of this layer put part of the chopped meat, the skin and the flesh of the pork trotters, the sausages and the sliced sausage. Alternate the layers finishing with a layer of the Haricot beans.
8. Mix together the meat juice, the Haricot stock, the remaining red wine and the tomato concentrate. Tip enough of this liquid in a sufficient quantity to cover the top layer of Haricots. Top with the finely chopped pork fat.
9. Cover with aluminium foil and cook for an hour in the oven at 180º C.
10. Remove the aluminium foil, cover with breadcrumbs and put in the oven for an hour or until the liquid is absorbed, the breadcrumbs are browned and the surface well glazed. If the liquid evaporates too rapidly during the first hour of cooking then add a little more Haricot stock or simply warm water.

A hearty winters meal - if you're up to the occasion.

Editor's Note: This recipe was passed on to the author of Cycling on the Canal du Midi, France