Cassoulet is a perfect dish to make for company on a chilly winter day.  Everything can be done ahead of time, then simply bake the cassoulet for about 30 – 40 minutes before you are ready to serve the dish, heat up the Saucisse de Toulouse and crisp the skin of the duck legs confit.  Serve cassoulet with a green salad with winter fruits such as persimmon, apple, or pear.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of dried white beans (flageolets, navy or great northern)
• 6 cups of water
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves
• 1 carrot (cut in half)
• 1 – 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 1stalk of parsley
• 1 rib of celery
• 1/2 pound garlic sausage, sliced, then slices cut in quarters
• 1/4 pound of diced salt pork or bacon
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 2 tablespoons of rendered duck fat or olive oil
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 1 cup peeled and diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1/2 dry white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 10 duck legs confit
• 6 links Saucisse de Toulouse
• 1 1/4 cups breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons of butter

Instructions:

Boil 6 cups of water. Wash the beans and put in a pan, add the boiling water, and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let soak for one hour. Stud one of the peeled onions with the 2 cloves and add to the beans. Add the carrot, garlic, parsley, celery, diced salt pork or bacon, sausage, and salt. Bring to a boil uncovered, skim off the foam, cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Chop the 2nd onion and the shallots and sauté in the duck fat until the onion turns light brown, add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, chopped parsley and the wine. Stir and cook for 5 minutes, and add to the beans.

Cover and simmer for 1 hour, or until beans are tender, adding more water if needed. The bean mixture should be saucy, with about 1 cup or more liquid when finished. Remove the whole onion, celery, carrot and parsley stalk.

Put the bean mixture in a large earthenware or enamel casserole. Combine the breadcrumbs with the melted butter and sprinkle over the beans, bake at about 350 until the breadcrumbs are brown (up to 40 minutes).

Towards the end of the cooking time, heat the duck legs confit in a frying pan over medium heat, fat side down. When the skin is crisp and browned, turn over just to heat and slightly brown the other side of the legs. Meanwhile, sauté the saucisse de Toulouse in a small amount of olive oil until browned. Cut the sausages in half. Remove the casserole from the oven, top with the duck confit and sausages.

Serves 8 – 10

We made this dish a few weeks ago, and the combination of duck legs confit, grilled on the BBQ and this flavorful middle eastern couscous salad was delicious.  This recipe is ideal for entertaining because the salad can be made well ahead of time and the duck legs confit take no time at all to prepare.  If it is not convenient to grill the duck legs confit on the BBQ, just cook them in a pan over the stove, skin/fat side down, until the skin is crisp and the meat is warm.

Recipe: BBQ Duck Legs Confit with Israeli Couscous Salad

Ingredients

4 duck legs confit (confit du canard)

1 cup Israeli couscous

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or lemon infused olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped or sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

5 baby eggplants (3-4″ in diameter) or 1 large eggplant, cubed

sea salt

juice of one lemon

1 tablespoon tahini

½ cup blanched and shelled fava beans

2 sprigs of mint, leaves cleaned and sliced in thin strips

4 tops of sprigs of mint for garnish

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

fresh ground pepper

Instructions:

Sauté the dry Israeli couscous in about one tablespoon olive oil until slightly golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Add 1 1/4 cups boiling water to the couscous, cover, and cook until water is absorbed.  Rinse in cold water. Set aside.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the onions in a small pan. Cook the onions slowly over medium to low heat until the onions are caramelized.

Meanwhile, In a large frying pan, heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook very slightly (do not brown). Add the cubed eggplant and distribute another tablespoon olive oil over the top of the eggplant, attempting to coat most of the cubes of eggplant with some oil.  Sprinkle salt over eggplant to taste. Cook eggplant until it is soft inside and crispy and slightly browned on the outside. To get the eggplant crispy, more oil may be needed.  Adjust oil as desired. Set aside.

Once the onions and eggplant are done, add them to the Israeli couscous in a large bowl. Add the fava beans. Whisk the lemon juice, tahini, salt and pepper to taste and one tablespoon of olive oil. Pour over the couscous, onion, fava bean and eggplant mixture and mix well. Add the mint and feta and mix to distribute.  Set aside.

When ready to serve the meal, grill the duck legs confit, fat side down, on medium low heat.  Cook until the meat is hot and the skin and fat is crisp and browned.  The duck legs confit can be turned to cook on the side with little fat; however, it’s best to have the fat and skin side down the majority of the time.

Serve the salad slightly warm or at room temperature, with the duck leg confit on the side.  Garnish the salad with a few mint leaves.