Faux Cassoulet

Storkbite’s Papa has been asking for a cassoulet for weeks.  The weather is getting warmer and my time to make such a hearty dish was coming to an end.  I really don’t have the time or patience to follow a Julia Child recipe at the moment so I decided to just wing it.  It turned out both hearty and satisfying.  After standing around at the park all afternoon chasing Storkbite, the faux cassoulet was the shot in the arm I needed.

Faux Cassoulet

First off — soak your beans up to two days in advance. Find the biggest white beans you can find and soak a whole pound.   This recipe really requires the right pot.  I have a large shallow cast iron Le Creuset pan with lid that is really the best tool for the job.  It allows the beans to be evenly distributed in the cooking liquid.  If you are trying this with a deep cast iron Dutch oven you may want to increase the amount of cooking liquid to almost cover the beans.

Ingredients:

• 4 duck legs
• 1 lb. soaked large white beans
• 1/4 chopped bacon
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 12 pearl / boiling onions
• 2 tbs. tomato paste
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 tsp. beef “Better than Bouillion”
• 2 c. hot water
• olive oil

On high heat drizzle pan with oil, brown the duck legs that have been salted.  Add bacon and brown, add whole peeled onions.  Once the bacon is browned and onions are slightly caramelized, remove duck legs and move everything to the side of the pan.  Add tomato paste and garlic.  Reduce heat and when the tomato paste is melted, add drained  beans.  Combine beans, bacon, onions and tomato paste.  Place duck legs on top. Add two sprigs of rosemary and 2 cups water with beef bouillion mixed in, cover and place in preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hour.

If toddler is cranky and you have to clean up the apartment like I did, reduce heat to 325 and let it go for a little longer.  You will want to test the beans for doneness before serving.   The duck should fall off the bone.

The taste of cassoulet in 1 hour prep and 1 hour cook time.  Take that Jules.

Duck Sandwiches

Storkbite has been working on the word duckie so hard lately that it’s been making me want to eat as much duck as possible.  She can identify them in books but is only able to say “du hee”.  When I showed her the duck breast at the store yesterday and identified it as du hee she looked at me as if I was trying to trick her.   When she was actually offered a taste of the du hee later that evening she looked at me with her “mama NO way” eyes.  It was almost like I was trying to make her eat the adorable little duckies that are in her adorable little books and she was not going to have it.  Fine by Storkbite’s parents though because these duck sandwiches were really pretty good.

Duck Sandwiches

This is a very basic sandwich which comprised caramelized onions, together with sliced duck breast, crisp red leaf lettuce, mayo on toasted sourdough bread.

First make your caramelized onions and set them off to the side in a bowl.  Add some olive oil to the same pan and sear the duck breast.  I like to salt my meat while it’s warming up.  Leave the duck breast alone and cover it with a lid.  Flip it once.  Let it rest and slice thin.  If you like it rare then don’t let it go covered for very long.

Slice some nice bread, brush it with olive oil and put it under the broiler for a few minutes.  Don’t forget about it!

Assemble the sandwich with mayo, onions, duck and lettuce.   If you are like me and love duck, then this sandwich will become a staple in your arsenal because it’s so easy.