Cassoulet

I made cassoulet for the first time yesterday (well, actually I used to make a vegi version when I worked in a vegetarian restaurant but it was hardly authentic). It was pretty good. According to my boyfirend it was a bit saltly, I couldn't argue, but for a first try it was OK. I didn't really follow a recipe but I read up on a few versions in Larousse and online and took it from there. First of all I soaked some haricot beans for about 8 hours then I boiled them with some pork rind, thyme, an onion studded with cloves a carrot and a celery stick. I simmered them for about 2 hours, skimming from time to time.

For the meat I used a couple herby sausages broken into a few pieces, a strip of salted pork belly, cut into strips and as I didn't have any duck confit I put in a chicken thigh cut into 4 pieces through the bone. I fried off all the meat in a little olive oil till browned and then I added some diced onion, carrot and celery and sweated for a few minutes. I stirred in some garlic, tomato puree and a little red wine vinegar. I mixed the meat mix in with the beans with a little of their cooking juice, topped with some breadcrumbs and a drizzle of olive oil and baked in a medium hot oven for about 30 minutes until the liquid had been absorbed and the crumbs formed a nice crust.

I know that technically I should have stewed the meat with the beans for an hour or so before crusting the top. And I should have also kept the meat in large pieces and then removed it and chopped it up and layered it with the beans but I have never been very good at doing what I am told! Maybe it would have been less salty if I had!