WINE & FOOD AFFAIR RECIPES

Main Dish

Cassoulet de Toulouse

GC Lurton Vineyard Tasting Room

422 Healdsburg Avenue
Healdsburg, CA 95403
gc-lurton-estates.com/acaibo.html

  • RECIPE YEAR: 2023
  • YIELD: Serves 4
  • PAIRS WELL WITH: ACAIBO 2017

Cassoulet is a traditional, thick bean and meat stew from the Southwest of France, where it takes on almost religious importance. The Cassoulet de Toulouse is a rich French dish prepared with beans, pork belly and sausage. It gets its name from the pot it's traditionally baked in, the cassole. It is one of the classic dishes of French Cuisine .

Ingredients:
  • 300 grams beans drained
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 onions diced
  • 2 carrots peeled
  • 4 tomatoes diced
  • 1 bouquet garni
  • 300 grams pork belly diced
  • 3 goose leg confit
  • 4 sprigs of thyme
  • 4 pork sausage
  • 300 grams toasted breadcrumbs
Directions:
Soften the beans overnight in cold water. Retain the 
water.

Stick the cloves and the bay leaf in one of the onions and place it in a pot along with the beans, the bouquet garni, the carrot, the tomatoes and one garlic clove.

Cover with water and cook on a medium heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Scoop off the foam and if necessary add some more water.

Heat the oven to 320°F (280°F with oven fan).

Fry the pork in 2 tablespoons of hot goose fat (from the confit).

Add the diced onion and the garlic and fry for a few 
minutes.

Deglaze with some of the water from the beans and add the thyme.

Cover and braise slowly on a low heat for around 1 hour.

Fry the sausages in 1 tablespoons of hot oil until brown.

Remove the onion, the bouquet garni, the carrot and the garlic from the beans and transfer everything to a cassole.

Place half the beans in the dish, add the meat in layers then top with the rest of the beans.

Sprinkle with half the breadcrumbs and bake for around 1 1/2 hours.

Stir carefully every 30 minutes and add the remaining  breadcrumbs during the last 15 minutes.

Serve immediately.