Yorkshire Cassoulet

Ingredients

370 gms (8 oz) Belly Pork Slices approx 12 mm thick (1/2 inch)
200gms (7oz) Smoked Bacon or Pancetta
200 gms (7 oz) Toulouse Sausages
500 ml Passata Tomato
1 Dessert Spoon Concentrated Tomato Paste
2-Teaspoons Sugar
500 gms Cannellini Beans or Haricot Beans: Tinned or Reconstituted Dried Beans
1 Medium Sized Onion: Chopped
2 Cloves Garlic: Finely Chopped
! Knorr Chicken Stock Cube made to 300 ml with hot water
2 Teaspoons Mixed Herbs: Marjoram, Basil, Oregano & Thyme: Dried
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
If using dried Beans weigh out 250gm of the dried beans and cover with cold water. Allow to stand overnight. This will give 500gm of reconstituted beans. The following day, rinse the beans under cold running water and transfer them to a saucepan. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. DO NOT ADD SALT. Strain the cooking liquid off the beans and put them to one side until needed. Strip the skin from the Belly Pork, roll the skin and tie with a piece of string and put to one side.

Put the Olive Oil into a thick casserole dish and heat. Add some of the diced onion and soften. Brown the Belly Pork slices and the Smoked Bacon in the onion and oil mixture remove on to a paper towel and then brown the Toulouse Sausages. Remove these on to a paper towel and allow to stand. Add the rest of the chopped onion and the chopped garlic and soften.

Slice the Pork Belly and Smoked Bacon into pieces about 3 inches (75mm) long and place on the softened onions followed by the stripped pork skin and the 500 gms of Cannellini/Haricot Beans. Add the Chicken Stock, the Passata Tomato and the Concentrated Tomato Paste. Stir gently and add the sugar. Check for taste; the sharpness of the Tomato should have been reduced. Add the Dried Mixed Herbs. Stir once more and bring the Casserole up to the simmer before transferring the whole covered Casserole Dish into the preheated oven at 150’C for a conventional oven or 140’C for a fan assisted oven for 1½ hours. Remove the rolled up Pork Skin and slice into pieces about 3 inches long and ½ inch wide. Put these back into the cassoulet.


After 1 ½ hours add the Toulouse Sausage pressing into the beans and make up for evaporation loss with a little water. Return to the oven at 180’C with the casserole lid on. Continue cooking for a further 30 minutes checking the seasoning before removing from the oven. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Store overnight in cool place, refrigerate if preferred, and reheat before serving.