Challenge Dinner #2 (Cassoulet and Sautéed Kale)

I was given another chopped-style challenge, and these were the ingredients I must use:

Duck, Plantains, Jelly beans, Zest, Chipotle

Of course I wasn’t going to do anything predictable! The cassoulet was probably my most ambitious dish yet (I needed to shop at seven different places to get all the ingredients I needed), but I did take some shortcuts.

confit duck legs

(I have a recipe, but it’s a lot of work)

aloco (fried plantains) from a Senegalese restaurant

(you didn’t think I was going to make tostones, did you?)

BeanBoozled Fiery Five from Jelly Belly

(Sriracha, Jalapeño, Cayenne, Habanero, Carolina Reaper)

perfect for a savory dish

Just to make the meal more interesting, we ate with edible sporks and spoons.

Bread Bowl Cassoulet

This was the ultimate fusion. I started with a basic French cassoulet recipe (I omitted the celery in the mirepoix because I don’t eat celery) and modified it with Chinese fried pork skin (instead of fresh pork rind), duck fat from confit duck leg package (instead of goose fat), Cajun andouille sausage (instead of garlic sausage), chicken broth (instead of water), jelly beans (obviously not part of the original recipe), Senegalese aloco (no plantains in the original recipe), Mexican nopalitos (nothing comparable in the original cassoulet recipe), and Japanese panko (instead of regular dried breadcrumbs). I borrowed from South African bunny chow and fashioned unsliced pain de mie (unsliced bread is so hard to find!) from a French bakery into bread bowls (rather than serving the cassoulet in regular serving bowls).

• 1 cup dried navy beans, soaked overnight in 3 cups of water, drained, then blanched for 20 minutes, and drained
• 4 tblsp fat from duck confit package
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 3 whole garlic cloves
• 4 slices extra thick cut smoked bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 7 oz andouille sausage, sliced
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 bouquet garni (fresh rosemary sprigs, fresh thyme sprigs, fresh parsley stalks, and fresh bay leaves, wrapped loosely in cheesecloth and tied with kitchen twine)
• 2 each of BeanBoozled Fiery Five (Sriracha, Jalapeño, Cayenne, Habanero, Carolina Reaper)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2.5 oz Chinese fried pork skin, soaked overnight, drained and cut into 1-in pieces
• 1/2 cup aloco (I cut each piece into 3 pieces)
• 1/2 cup nopalitos, rinsed and drained
• 2 confit duck legs
• 6 tblsp panko
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 4 hollowed-out bread bowls (the crust should be slightly dry so the bowls won’t become soggy once they are filled)
• 1/4 cup flatleaf parsley, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 250F.
2. Heat 2 tblsp duck fat in a Dutch oven over a low heat and sweat the onion, carrot, and garlic for 5 minutes. Add bacon, and sausage, and sauté until fragrant (about 5 minutes). Add the navy beans and stir to combine.
3. Add chicken broth. Bring to the boil, skim off any scum, then add the bouquet garni, jelly beans, salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice.
4. Transfer the Dutch oven to the oven and cook, uncovered, for 2.5 hours, stirring every hour.
5. Remove the cassoulet from the oven. Stir in the rehydrated pork skin, aloco, and nopalitos. Bury the duck legs in the beans and sprinkle over the remaining 2 tblsp duck fat, panko, and garlic. Return to the oven and cook for a further 2 hours.
6. Remove the bouquet garni.
7. Ladle cassoulet into bread bowls. Make sure there is enough meat from half a duck leg in each bread bowl. Sprinkle chopped parsley on top.

Sautéed Kale with Olive Oil and Garlic

I modified a Portuguese recipe to use chipotle peppers and lemon zest.

• 4 chipotle peppers, boiled for 20 minutes, seeds removed, then finely chopped
• 3 tblsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 12 oz frozen chopped kale
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• freshly grated zest from one lemon
• juice from 1/2 lemon

1. In a large sauté pan, sauté the garlic in olive oil over low heat until soft and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the kale and chipotle peppers, a sprinkle of salt and black pepper, and 1/4 cup water. Cook covered over low heat for 15 minutes. Uncover and turn the heat to medium. Stir frequently until kale is tender and all water has evaporated.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the lemon zest. 
4. Pour over the lemon juice and mix well.
5. Ladle into individual bowls.