Pork Cassoulet (or Belly Pork and Mixed Beans)

MikeCunliffe · Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 3:59 pm Post subject:

I fancied something different the other day. In Morrisons I bought a 500g bag of mixed, exotic beans and a 500g of barley. I also bought a medium size piece of Pork Belly. This was more than enough for one (me) but increasing the quantity would be easy for 2 or more people.

I placed a cupful of beans in a bowl of fresh cold water and left to soak overnight. I also put a quarter cup of barley in there as well. The Barley helps to thicken the casserole stock during the cooking.

Rinse the beans and put in a saucepan, fully cover with water and bring to the boil. Then boil vigorously for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop a small onion roughly and soften in a pan with a little butter and olive oil until starting to turn golden. Could also add garlic towards the end of this but didn't want to smell too much.

Brown the belly pork on all sides in a hot frying pan with some olive oil in it. The crackling will spit when you brown it, I placed a lid over the pan to stop it splashing everywhere.

Make a pint of stock. I used Boullion dissolved in boiling water but you could use a vegetable (or pork) stock cube.

Drain the beans (I discarded the water they'd boiled in) and add to a casserole pot. Place the belly pork and the softened onions on top of the beans and pour one pint of stock over the meat/beans/onions. I made sure the meat was covered with the stock - you might need more/less then a pint depending upon the size of your casserole dish.

Cook at gas mark 5 or about 180-200c for 1.5 hours.

A couple of beers in the pub was just the right time for this to cook.

Not counting the bean soaking, the preparation time was about 30 minutes with a 1.5 hour cooking time.

It was very tasty. Next time I'd try a lamb shank rather than belly pork.
Mike

Good_Queen_Bess · Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 5:20 pm Post subject:

Sounds a bit different Mike, and tasty.

For those who are health conscious (Yawn!), leaner meat should work too.

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Paz,
Jackiex