Regular Prato diners will have noticed that I am very suggestible when it comes to food, right? 😛 However, this time some factors favor the recipe itself.
The dish was shown on the Menu Confiança program on GNT (Globosat channel) which is presented by chef Claude Troisgros and for sommelier Deise Novakoski. And yes, I like Claude! I think he’s funny, with all due respect! hahahahah
This was the first factor, now the second. For those who don’t know, 2009 is being celebrated as the Year of France in Brazil (2008 had been the opposite, Brazil in France). Even though my cultural background is Japanese-Brazilian, the basic techniques I learned are French. Not to mention that I have a certain fascination with French pastry, it’s all so beautiful, hahahahah. I don’t even need to comment on the historical importance of France for gastronomy, right? Yes, I speak French… ok, ok, a little bit.
I take this opportunity to thank Bia Belliard (L’amour dans l’assiette) for the help. A while ago I bothered her by asking about everyday French edibles. Bia, her tips will still appear here, see? 😀
And finally, the third: there would be a lot of people to eat! 😀 Yes, it’s a dish that yields as much as possible with the amount of ingredients.
To arrive at the version I suggest for you, I adapted three different recipes to my reality: Claude, Anthony Bourdain and Julia Child.
The main and biggest change was the exchange of duck confit for roast chicken!
In Bourdain’s, he teaches how to make confit, for example. And when Claude showed his, the meat was leftovers from other dishes (duck confit, pork loin and lamb shank).
O cassoulet It shares the essence of our feijoada, that is, it is a bean stew with pork, mainly. It is made with “leftover” meat from other dishes. I wish I had a spare duck confit around here, hahahahah. But the similarities end there, because the dish is finished in the oven and the taste is very different from feijoada.
As there were no leftovers of any type of meat at home, I increased the amount of pork (Calabrian sausage and smoked ribs) and bought a roast chicken, as I said before. And yes, roast chicken purchased. Those from a bakery or market, even. 😀
Before going into the oven, the classic recipe is sprinkled with bread crumbs. But… a lot I exchanged for panko! Panko is Japanese-style breadcrumbs, and it doesn’t look anything like Brazilian breadcrumbs. It’s normally used for frying, but I bet on it and it worked!
Well, as I had never eaten it before and I only tried this one I made, I believe it is correct. At least, I really liked it! It was worth every minute invested. I thought I was wrong about the amount of broth, the finished dish is moist, but without as much liquid as the feijoada. I searched for photos of cassoulet and the vast majority, at least visually, looked similar to mine.
Cassoulet: French Bean Bake
Makes: 5 – 8 people
- 800 g White bean (chosen)
- 300 g smoked bacon
- 200 g smoked pork ribs
- 400 g pair
- 300 g pepperoni sausage
- 1 Roast Chicken (thighs, wings and breast pieces)
- 1 onion (whole peeled)
- 5 dry clove
- 2 carrots (peeled)
- 1 bouquet garni (1/2 bunch of parsley, 1/4 bunch of rosemary, 2 bay leaves. Tied with string or cotton thread)
- 4 teeth garlic (chopped or grated)
- 2 soup spoon tomato extract
- 4 tomatoes (chopped ripe, skinless and seedless)
- 1/2 pack fresh parsley (chopped)
- 3 L water (or chicken broth; enough to cover)
- refined salt (August)
- ground black pepper (August)
- panko flour (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 cup: 250mL | 1 tablespoon: 15mL.
Mode: DAY 1
- The recipe is not difficult, it is very simple. However, it has several stages that can be divided into three days.
- Choose white beans as you would regular beans. Wash the beans twice, when I did this the water came out brown.
- Place in a large bowl and cover with water (about 7-10cm of water above the beans), and when I say big I mean big! The beans will grow to about 3 times their original size. Let it rest for 24 hours.
Mode: DAY 2
- Drain the beans and wash twice. Transfer the beans to a large pan (I used a 7L pan) and add: paio, sausage, carrot, onion (with the cloves stuck in it) and bouquet garni, all whole.
- Cut the ribs into coarse pieces (leave the bone) and bacon (if there is a large layer of fat, you can remove some of it). Tomato paste and grated garlic. Put it in the pan too.
- Then cover with water or chicken broth (I just used water). Add salt only to cook the beans, if it needs more it will be corrected at the end.
- Place over high heat, when it boils, lower the heat and cook for 1h30 to 2 hours with the lid open (if you close it completely, liquid may leak). The beans should be cooked after this time. Approximately in the first 30 minutes a foam may appear on the liquid, I recommend that you remove it with a slotted spoon.
- After cooking, remove the meat pieces and vegetables (carrots, onions and bouquet), and add the tomatoes and parsley. Let it cook briefly (5 minutes) and taste, trying to adjust the salt and pepper. It must be seasoned, even though the meat has salt, it is important not to lack seasoning. If there is too much broth left, cook for another 10-20 minutes.
- The onion and bouquet can be discarded. Preheat the oven to 180º-200ºC.
- Cut the pieces of meat that are whole (paio, sausage and chicken), the paio has the “skin” (the intestine or edible film) I recommend that you remove it before slicing. And for the chicken, leave the thighs and wings whole with the skin on. Cut the carrot into slices.
- In a large oven-proof dish (38x26x7 cm, approximately), make an even layer of beans and place the meat and carrots generously on top of it. Then, cover everything with more beans. I had about 2 cups of beans and a few pieces of chicken left.
- To finish, make a layer of panko (or bread crumbs) and drizzle with a drizzle of olive oil. Before putting it in the oven, I recommend that you place a baking tray under the dish or on the lower rack of the oven, as the broth may leak as it cooks.
- Place in the oven at 180º-200ºC and bake for 1h30 to 2 hours, until the layer of bread is golden brown. Turn it off and let it cool well, cover with aluminum foil and put it in the fridge.
- If you want to serve immediately after these two hours on day two, you can also, as the dish is ready. However, it gets better the next day.
Mode: DAY 3
- Place the dish in the oven again at 180º-200ºC for 1h30 or until it is very hot. Serve hot, if desired, it can be accompanied by rice, but it is not necessary.
- Adapted: Claude Troisgros, Anthony Bourdain and Julia Child (affiliate link).
- Bouquet garni: the classic is parsley, thyme and bay leaves. If you don’t have thyme, replace it with rosemary. In addition to those suggested, celery/celery stalks can be used.
- Portion of the photo: the dish was served in a communal container, I made an individual one just to take a photo.
