cassoulet de lonsiack

Cousin Will and Karen invited us over to their beautiful apartment this evening. It was a special occasion, Will's brother and brother-in-law are in town! Cousin Kevin and Phil are SUPER AWESOME. I wish they would have gone to our wedding so I could have met them sooner, but thems are the breaks. They framed our wedding invite as a gift. I LOVE IT, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I got to invite Binko and we all headed over for dinner, main dish- my new cassoulet recipe:

1/2 lb bacon cut into small rectangles
1 yellow onion frenched
4 tbs of duck (or goose) fat
1/2 of lamb shoulder trimmed and cubed
2 lamb chops
2 duck confit
1 quart of beef (or veal) stock
1 large jar of tomatoes peeled and chopped coarsely (you can use fresh ones, if you have time)
1 can of tomato paste
2 large bulbs of green garlic sliced
1 bunch of parsley
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
1 cup of dry white wine
1/2 lb of your favorite sausage
1/2 lb of beans (cannelli is best) cooked and ready to go (soak beans over night and then simmer for 3 hours, when done, drain and salt)
1 cup of bread crumbs (I home make mine with old bread. Toss slices of bread in the oven until crunchy and then throw them in the food processor.)

In a dutch oven, put 3 tbs of duck fat and cook bacon until crisp, then transfer to a dish. Cook onions until brown, transfer to where you put your bacon. Add the rest of the duck fat and brown your lamb shoulder and chops, set aside. Add jar of tomatoes, wine, paste, stock to the dutch oven, then add parsley, green garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Add onions, bacon, lamb. Cover your dish and stick in the oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Take your duck confit and place them on a baking dish and throw it in the oven as well- 20 minutes. While that's all cooking, slice up your sausage and fry it til its brown. When the duck is done, put on the broiler and broil until the skin is crisp. When the dutch oven has cooked cover for 30 minutes take it out. Take off the lid (you don't need it any more) and add the duck, beans, sausage and top with bread crumbs. I spooned extra duck fat from the confit on top of the crumbs. Stick it back in the over for 1 1/2 hours. VIOLA! Enjoy!