January Jeliciousness: Shortcut Cassoulet

RIP Timothy

As promised, here's the first in our series of favorite recipes from friends of MissWhistle, January jeliciousness. This one comes from my lovely sister, Coral, who lives near Royston in England in bucolic bliss with a menagerie of animals. Gladys the goat and Timothy the sheep are sadly gone, but there are all kinds of chickens and dogs and geese. She also makes an incredible game pie (see pic below) which takes days. Hopefully we can persuade her to share that recipe next.

Coral's game pie

What: Shortcut Cassoulet
Why: "Easy, warming and delicious and the olive oil breadcrumbs make it!" -- Coral

Shortcut Cassoulet (serves 2)

2 duck legs - seasoned
70g diced pancetta
1 carrot diced
I celery diced
100g smoked garlic sausage (kabanos) cut into chunks
400g tin cherry tomatoes
250 ml chicken stock
400g tin haricot or cannellini beans drained
Chunky breadcrumbs
Splash olive oil
Small bunch of parsley chopped

Heat oven to 180C (350F). Put duck legs skin side down in a non stick frying pan. Heat gently then cook on a medium/high heat turning until duck is browned and most of fat has been rendered out. Take duck from the pan and spoon out all but a tablespoon of the fat. Add pancetta and cook until golden.
Add the vegetables and cook until softened then add the sausage. Tip in the tomatoes and stock and season.
Tip into a casserole or baking dish then sit the duck legs on top.
Cover and bake for 1 hour. Stir in the beans and cook uncovered for another 15 mins.
To make breadcrumb topping - fry the breadcrumbs in olive oil until golden, stir in the parsley then serve the duck and beans with a scattering of the breadcrumbs.

Coral's cassoulet