French Cassoulet and Tarte Tatin Recipes
Bean and Pork Cassoulet
Slow cooking is my favourite way to prepare a meal and a pork and bean casserole is the ideal slow cooked food. This French Casserole recipe is delicious, easy to make, and a very tasty dish
Ingredients
1lb. belly pork
3 oz duck or goose fat
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 chopped onion 2 lb.dried haricot beans, soaked in water overnight
1 large bunch of herbs made from leek, celery, thyme, bay leaves and parsley.
6 Toulouse sausages
4 legs of duck
Cut the piece of belly pork into 3 thick slices, then divide into two. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.
Heat some of the of the duck fat in a large casserole dish. Add the garlic and onion and fry gently until soft.
Add the beans and the pieces of belly pork, cover with water and push in the herbs. Bring to the boil, skimming off any scum that appears, then cover, transfer to the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the beans are just tender. Heat the remaining duck fat in a frying pan and brown the sausages all over then cut them into slices.
Remove the cassouletfrom the oven and increase the oven temperature to 220C/gas 7. Add the sausages and the pieces of duck to the casserole and push them down well into the beans. Return the bean and pork casserole to the oven and cook uncovered for a further three quarters of an hour or until the liquid has reduced and the cassoulet has become beautifully golden.
Cassoulet with sausage
Dessert
Another delicious French recipe.
Tarte Tartin
This is an upside down tart that is rumoured to have been invented by two French sisters who accidentally dropped their tart on the floor and decided to make future tarts in a pan with the pastry uppermost.
To make the pastry you'll need
4oz plain flour
2oz butter
cold of water
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
Rub the flour and butter together to form a crumb, then add enough cold water to mix into a dough. Put the dough in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
The tart filling is made with:
2 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of caster sugar
1 apple.
Heat the butter and sugar in a small ovenproof frying pan until golden-brown. Place the apple pieces into the pan and cook until they get soft.
Turn the cooled dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to make a round disc to fit into the frying pan, making it slightly larger than the pan. Place the pastry on top of the apples and tuck any overlap into the pan.
Bake in a preheated oven at gas mark 6, 200C for about half an hour.
Allow the tart to cool slightly, then place a plate over the pastry side of the tart and turn the pan so that the tart plops onto the plate. Now the apples are uppermost. Don't they look absolutely fabulous?
Tarte Tartin
