Cassoulet

OK… I’m ready to eat my words now.

Remember when I told you, weeks ago, although now it seems like years, about how the Marseillaise thought that my and Anne-Marie’s brains work differently? Well, somehow, even though it happens every year, without fail, right as the kids are about to leave, I got it… and all the tiny things that had irked me all throughout the session no longer seems important.

It happened yesterday: the group of younger kids had gone on an excursion, and I was left alone at the house with the Junior Counselor, the three older kids and three of the 11-year-old girls. We finally decided (after a lot of hemming and hawing and whining on the part of the teenagers) to spend the afternoon at the Pachaire, despite the half-hour trek. And so, with the little girls in the lead and the older ones trailing behind, off we went into the garrigue.

We spent the afternoon without plans or organisation, without a time to be home by or something to do upon our arrival. Instead, we watched the little girls come up with new and creative ways to jump in the water, the prudishness that is so ingrained in the American mindset abandoned as they made the leap in cotton underwear, New York eleven-year-olds kids, for once, for an afternoon.

On the walk back, their clothes drying in the sunshine, we stole bunches of purple grapes, the first ripe bounty of the vineyard harvest season, and those who could stand it chewed on the tiny, acidic globes, spitting seeds on the path. I allowed juice to spill all over my hands, making them sticky. Even as a child, I had abhored having sticky hands, but today I just let it go and enjoyed my last few moments of Paziols before the summer ends and fall sends us all back to the States.

Cassoulet

This is not a summer dish, but it’s a tradition here all the same.

1500 g lingot beans (or other white beans), dry
20-30 pieces of confit de canard, canned
800 g. lardons
2 onions, minced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
3 saucisses de Toulose (or other mild sausage)

Soak the lingot beans overnight in 5 times their volume of cold water. In the morning, drain and cook over low heat with 3 times their volume of water until soft, about an hour. Drain and salt. Set aside.

Place the confit de canard and the duck fat from the cans into a large Dutch oven and heat. Remove the pieces of duck and set aside. Reserve the fat.

Over a low flame, heat two tablespoons of the duck fat in a frying pan. Add the onions and lardons and cook until golden, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and heat until aromatic, 1-2 minutes. Mix this combination into the beans.

Wipe down the frying pan and add two more tablespoons of the duck fat. Cut the sausage into links, and fry until golden.

Assemble the cassoulet: in a cassole (or any shallow, wide cooking vessel, preferably glass or porcelain), place a layer of beans, a layer of duck, another layer of beans and then the sausages. I usually use three vessels for this recipe. Add 1-2 tablespoons of the duck fat to the top of the cassoulet.

Place into an oven and heat to 250 degrees farenheit. Cook for 2-3 hours, occasionally pressing the hard crust that will appear on top down and moving soft, white beans to the top.

Serves 20ish and reheats well.