Cassoulet-Z

Submitted by: John Blesso

Meal: Dinner

Cuisines:

Dish: Main

Prep Time: 1 day

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

3 lbs white beans
4 duck legs (with thighs)
1 lb Italian sausage
1 lb keilbasa
½ lb pancetta
2 ham hocks (unsmoked, uncured)
1 large can whole tomatoes
3 large yellow onions
12 cloves garlic
16 cloves
4 bay leaves
1 whole nutmeg
1 cup dry vermouth
½ lb baby carrots
1 bag spinach
1 small bunch thyme

Instructions:

(I was inspired to cook cassoulet, one of my favorite dishes, by Tamara Reynolds (http://oneasskitchen.blogspot.com), one of my favorite chefs. Only Tamara's recipe takes precisely one week, as that's how long it takes to make a proper duck confit. My personal opinion is that the "confit-ness" of the duck is lost in that orgy of flavors, and that the recipe could be knocked down to one day--cassoulet-Z--by just roasting a few duck legs and using the meat and bunch of the fat. Enjoy & let me know how it goes!)

Soak beans overnight in stockpot and then cook with 2 ham hocks or pork bones along with bay leaves, 6 cloves garlic, and two large yellow onion covered in cloves. Drain and save the liquid. Discard onions, garlic & bay leaves. Return beans to stock pot. Set aside ham hocks.

Cook the duck legs in the oven at 350 until all of the fat has rendered.
Remove from oven and let cool.
Remove skin and save.
Cut meat into small pieces and add to stock pot with rendered duck fat.

Cut sausages and saute. Add to stock pot along with half of the rendered sausage fat.

Fry pancetta at the bottom of a pot, and then add large yellow onion diced up along with 10 diced cloves of garlic. Then add carrots sliced into thirds. Add to stock pot. Deglaze pancetta pot with dry vermouth and add sliced up spinach and reuse ham hocks. After spinach reduces, add 1 cup of the liquid from the beans. Add chopped thyme. Reduce by half, then add whole tomatoes crushed with your hands and pour in rest of can. Reduce everything by ¼. Remove ham hocks and add everything to stock pot.

Add to large stock pot along with grated nutmeg. Salt and pepper to taste. Add any more of the reserve bean liquid so that level rises to the top. Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes. (When ham hocks have cooled, remove any meat and add to pot.) Let cool and then refrigerate until an hour before you want to eat it.

Pour into baking dishes and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.