I have used their products for many years in my restaurants (The Olive Branch in Kaikoura and Riverstone, Karamea), and their products are of outstanding quality. We are so lucky in New Zealand.
There are many variations to a cassoulet, so have fun with it and here's an easy one to start with.
Cassoulet
INGREDIENTS
160g pork belly
140g streaky bacon
300g garlic sausage (Toulouse sausage is the best. I found it at Traitors in Merivale)
400g dried haricot beans, soaked overnight in 3 times their volume of water.
1 celery stick
1 small onion
1 large carrot
6 cloves garlic
2 ripe tomatoes (not traditional but nice for a bit of colour)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bouquet garni
1 & 1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, lightly crushed
2 tsp lemon juice
TO FINISH:
4 confit duck legs
2 tbsp olive oil
40g dried breadcrumbs
Handful of fresh flatleaf parsley, coarsely chopped
METHOD
Your first job, the day before, is to confit the duck. The word confit sounds daunting, but simply means preserved in its own fat.
You can buy confit of duck legs in tins, but it is very expensive and, as far as I know, all imported. I would rather confit my own duck. It's so easy and, in the process, you are supporting New Zealand primary food producers.
Here's a really simple recipe to confit your duck:
4 duck legs
500g pouch of duck fat
Rub each duck leg with sea salt and set aside for an hour. Wipe off excess salt with a paper towel and place in a shallow ovenproof dish that will comfortably hold the duck legs and allow them to be covered in fat. It is best to use duck fat, but if you can't get it I have often used olive oil and it does the job.
Cover the dish with tinfoil and place in a preheated oven at 130C for 3 hours.
Now they are ready to bury among the beans in your cassoulet.
Second job is the cassoulet. Dice the pork belly and bacon, then cut sausage into 1cm-thick slices.
Drain the soaked beans and discard the water. Put beans in a large saucepan, add pork and bacon and cover with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil and blanch for 20 minutes, then drain and discard cooking water.
Roughly chop the celery, onion and carrot. Peel garlic cloves but leave them whole. Cut the tomatoes into wedges. Preheat oven to 100C.
Heat the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole dish and sweat the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bouquet garni and cook slowly until caramelised, probably another 5-6 minutes. Add the sausage, beans, pork belly and bacon and pour in about 1.2 litres of water. Bring to the boil, then add salt and pepper, cloves of garlic and lemon juice. It is a good idea to skim off the scum as it rises to the top.
Transfer casserole to the oven and cook uncovered for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. You may need to cook a little longer - as long as the beans are soft and creamy in texture.
Remove the cassoulet from the oven and bury the duck legs in the beans and sprinkle olive oil, breadcrumbs over.
Return to the oven and cook two more hours. Serve in bowls, sprinkled with chopped parsley. Look out for those whole garlic cloves and mash them into the beans and sauce.
Serve with good quality French bread.
