Duck Cassoulet

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 3 30

Resting Time: 20

Total Time: 4

Servings: people

Duck cassoulet is the perfect winter fare. It's a fantastic, hearty dish with layers of flavor that come together beautifully. Cassoulet is the classic one-dish meal of the Southwest of France

Ingredients

BEANS

2 pounds died Navy Beans, picked and rinsed
1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon salt
1 leek, trimmed leaving some green, split and washed
1 onion, peeled and tuck with two whole cloves
1 carrot, peeled and cut in half
2 tomatoes, peeled, halved, seeded and chopped - about 3 cups
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bouquet garni, (2 bay leaves, 2 teaspoons dry thyme, 4-5 fresh parsley tied up in a cheesecloth)
1 pound pancetta
4 cups homemade chicken stock, or sodium-free canned chicken stock
6 cups water
1½ pounds garlic sausage

MEATS

5 pounds ducks, (have the butcher put it into pieces)
3 pounds boneless pork shoulder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
4 sliced stale country bread, processed to fine crumbs in a food processor - 1 1/2 cup

US - Metric

Instructions

FOR THE BEANS

Put the beans in an 8 to 10-quart heavy enameled casserole. Add the salt, leek, onion, carrot, tomatoes, garlic, tomato paste, bouquet garni, pancetta, stock and cold water and bring slowly to a boil, skimming off the froth. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 1 ½ hours.
Pick the sausage with a fork, add to the beans, and cook for about 15 minutes longer.

WHILE THE BEANS ARE COOKING, COOK THE MEAT

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Season the duck and pork with salt and pepper. Place them side by side in a roasting pan and roast for 1 ½ hour to 2 hours.
When the beans are cooked (they should be tender but not mushy), turn off the heat.
Lift the sausage, pancetta, onion, carrot, leek and bouquet garni form the casserole onto a baking sheet.
Discard the onion, carrot, leek and bouquet garni.
When the duck and pork are cooked, pour ¼ cup of the fat from the roasting pan into a measuring cup and set aside. Discard any remaining fat and deglaze the pan by adding ½ cup of the cooking liquid from the beans to the pan and bringing to a boil, stirring to melt all the solidified cooking juices. Add the liquid to the beans.
Remove the casing from the sausage and cut the sausage into ¾ - inch-thick slices. Slice the pancetta into strips ½ inch wide by 3 inches long.
Slice the pork roast lengthwise in half and then into 1-inch-thick slices and set aside in a dish.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Transfer the beans to another container, then layer the various ingredients in the casserole, starting with about one third of the beans, followed by alternating layers each of the meats and more beans ending with beans.
Moisten the bread crumbs with the reserved fat and spread them over the entire surface of the beans.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until a crust forms on top. Break the crust and push it into the beans with a large spoon, then continue cooking for another 30 minutes.
At the end of the cooking time the casserole can rest out of the oven for 20 minutes before serving.
Serve straight from the casserole, giving each person some of the various ingredients

Nutrition

Giangi's Kitchen provides nutritional information, but these figures should be considered estimates, as a registered dietician does not calculate them.