It's all in the game: Cassoulet ( a little different)

Sunday a bike ride and a cassoulet (as never been done before)

The title says it all I have done a mixture of the lot, but didn't have any goose or duck, that doesn't detract from the flavour, it is deep and rich and even (heard that some other place?).

I used lamb, because I had some in the freezer that needed using up, it had been in there since January and I was sick of moving it from drawer to drawer, back to the front, it just didn't seem to have a proper home, so out it came, I also had some pork collar marinated in paprika. Beans soaked overnight.

I was up early as I wanted to go and see if the Great Crested Grebes had successfully reared any off spring this year, so cycling along the river, towards the rose garden at the Schloss, it was amazing how many birds, animals and a few people where about, the air was full of song, the fields full of hares and the krrrikkking of the cock pheasants, the fish rising on the slow flowing Ems, it was beautiful and serene. I then went along the cycle track through the Erlenbruchwald (this is an area of land set aside so that the wood in the main Black Alder are allowed to grow and die without the hand of man coming into contact, there are many fallen trees (the Alder has a very shallow root system) that do not survive the Autumn storms, the area is marsh and wet lands criss-crossed by streams and ponds, at once you are greeted by the quacking of the ducklings, the moorhens wandering to and fro with not a care in the world,

The Blackbirds giving off there alarm call and passing the rabbits out for an early morning graze on the banks of the park.

I reached the Emssee and at once heard the begging call of young Great Crested Grebes, oh joy and bliss, they had reared a brood, I turned the corner, crossed the little bridge and there in front of me was a mother being chased by one begging chick,

in the distance I saw her mate with another two off spring, all begging for food.

There was a chap out fishing (there are some good carp, eels and tench here) and a moorhen pair decided to inspect his tackle (fishing tackle that is),

I had a bit of a rest and took some Photos of the parent birds, diving, catching a fish and the three chicks racing to get there first amid the begging calls.

serving up breakfast, now how fresh is that?

I could have sat there all morning, it was so nice, but alas the Cassoulet was calling so I mounted the bike and headed for home, not by the direct route that is along main roads, I headed out through the fields and byways.

On reaching home I got into prep-mode.

Ingredients
500g of beans soaked over night
8 lamb chops (dry marinated in Herbs de Provence and sea salt)
2 pork collar steaks in a paprika marinade
1 black pudding cut into slices
An end of chorizo cut into chunks
Some hot smoked spiced belly
70g of speck
100g of streaky bacon
6 Nürnberger bratwurst
White of a leek diced
3 stalks of celery sliced
2carrots diced
5 small tomatoes ¼d
100g of fine green beans, topped and tailed then blanched
1½ peppers diced (the peppers left over from last night’s stir fry)
1/2 large onion diced (also left over from last night)
1 litre of homemade beef stock (that was all I had, would have preferred chicken)
Olive oil and sunflower oil for frying (you should really use duck or goose fat but I had to do something healthy??)

For the topping, sourdough breadcrumbs mixed with 2 garlic cloves and a bunch of parsley all blitzed with a magic wand.

Strain the beans that had been soaked overnight, put them into a pressure cooker cover with water add the speck and the skin from the pork belly cut into strips. Lid on and cook for an hour.

Mean time chop and prepare all of the rest of the vegetables and meats.

When the beans are cooked, Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed casserole (cast iron is good for this), fry the bacon, then the sausages, next the pork collar, remove and add the chops.

Add the black pudding slices to the fat in the pan (I was using German blutwurst, this is softer than the UK sort) fry just a little turning once, add half of the mixed vegetables,

then cover with some beans,

next the lamb chops and bacon,

then the rest of the veg, next the pork, the Nürnberger, the chorizo, the smoked belly, cover 2 with more beans and then the tomatoes and green beans,

finishing off with the final layer of beans, pour in the stock,

bury the bouquet garni into the beans, lid on and into a preheated oven at 180°C for 2 hours.

Now make your topping (this is not for traditionalists), this is a tip from Monsieur Raymond Blanc as are the tomatoes, so what is good enough for a Michelin starred chef (ahem, did I tell you I have eaten at his Bistro in Cheltenham) is good enough for you lot and of course ’moi’

Spoon the topping over the top and turn up full, now at this point I had been using my blender and it ceased to function, I thought that it was the blender but no! for some strange reason I had lost a phase, alas also the oven phase. So what I thought was browning nicely was doing sweet Fanny Adams. After 20 minutes I went in and discovered the malaise, so down to the cellar, reset the MCB and what was sweet Fanny Adams was now Bob’s your uncle.

So what is “they” say “all’s well that ends well” stupid saying if you ask me, but I suppose you never will!
There will be those that will not say that is not a Cassoulet Castelnau, Carcassonne, Columbié or Toulouse, I would say you are correct and as all of these differ, so does mine. The Cassoulet was originally a peasant dish, a meal of the people, and then some “Super Chef (s)” decided that his was the correct version and so wrote the ingredients and procedure down in tablets of stone. What he/they forgot was that the peasants had been making this for hundreds of years prior to “their version”. They, as in all one pot meals used whatever was at hand, in some areas, ducks abound, in another mutton, in yet another pork, just because they couldn’t lay their hands on some duck confite didn’t stop them from making ”their” Cassoulet.

I was forced down the road of using Nürnberger Bratwurst, I would have loved to have used some pucka gen Toulouse sausages, alas it was Sunday and I wasn’t able to get any raw sausages (Toulouse or fresh Bratwurst) so I used these, I think that they dish did not lose any of its taste because of them as they are very well seasoned and there flavour did not get lost in the dish.

The finished dish ready to serve