REVEL TO AX 3 DOMAINES
As the cyclists bravely soldier through the later stages of the famous bike race, so the intrepid food bloggers cook, eat and write their way through the same stages of the race in the Winos and Foodies food blog Tour de France! For links to all of the posts on the previous stages of the race, please look here.
My allotted leg of the race takes me through the towns of Revel, Castelnaudry and Mirepoix to the Ax les Thermes resort of Ax 3 Domaines in the Pyrenees, almost on the Spanish border.
No stranger to the Tour de France, having been a stage town 8 times previously, Revel is a small to moderate sized town, 54 kms East of Toulouse, with a population of around 8,500. Located in the Midi Pyrenees Department it is one of the leading organic regions in France today and is noted for it’s cabinet makers, but more famously for it’s weekly market which is held every Saturday under a 14th century roof.
Photo from Wikimedia
From there we travel on to the pretty market town of Castelnaudry, 50 kms South East of Toulouse, and on an ancient route from Toulouse to the Mediterranean. Castelnaudry is also the self-proclaimed “Capital of Cassoulet” (but more on that later) and the main port on the Canal du Midi.
Photo from Wikimedia
Moving through the small town of Mirepoix – destroyed by fire in 1289, but rebuilt in 1290 – the riders will find themselves climbing through the Pyrenees to reach their final point for the day, Ax les Thermes. Ax les Thermes is a spa town whose waters were used by the Romans to treat rheumatism and skin diseases. The springs were then developed in the Middle Ages in order to treat soldiers who were returning from the Crusades with leprosy. Hence the unfortunately named “Lepers Pond” where, annually, the locals daube themselves with ashes and bathe! This popular tourist destination boasts a casino, is close enough to Spain for cross-border shopping and is home to the resort which marks the end of the day for the bike racers.
Photo from Wikimedia
It probably won’t come as any surprise that the dish I have prepared is a cassoulet – a slow cooked dish containing meat and white beans and dating from the 14th century. It is the speciality of this region with, as I mentioned before, Castelnaudry claiming ownership. There are said to be as many cassoulets as there are cooks and the name comes from the name of the pot in which it was cooked. There are quite distinct regional variations in the meat used, but it always contains white beans and always has more beans that meat. The Toulouse dish will generally contain pork and mutton, the Carcassonne variation generally has partridge in it and the Castenaudry dish uses duck confit. In keeping with tradition, I have modified the recipe from several that I looked at and took the liberty of using canned beans because I’m lazy for the sake of convenience. I also used gourmet Italian pork sausages as I was unable to obtain the Toulouse sausage generally used. It cooked all afternoon in my slow-combustion oven, making the kitchen warm, cosy and deliciously fragrant!
For the next stage of the race, please check out http://peasepudding.wordpress.com/
- 2 rashers bacon, chopped
- 30 mls olive oil
- 5 Italian pork sausages
- 4 legs of duck confit
- 600 gms tinned white beans
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 carrots, sliced
- 400gms tinned tomatoes
- 500 ml chicken stock
- 1 cup red wine
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 bouquet garni
- 1 1/2 cups toasted breadcrumbs
- Heat oil in heavy based, oven-proof pan, brown sausages, remove. Add chopped onion and carrot and saute until onion is soft, add bacon and fry. Cut sausages up into 3-4 pieces and return to pan with onions etc.
- Add stock, wine, tomatoes, bouquet garni and beans. Stir.
- Push duck legs into bean mix, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cook, covered in slow oven – 150C – for 3 hours.
- Check that the top is crusty and brown before serving!
Great post Amanda. You live in ideal weather for a winter cassoulet. I have never made it but had it once in a French restaurant here. I think I would enjoyed it more if it wasn’t so hot.
Thanks for participating.
Barbara – thanks for inviting me – I have enjoyed it. The weather this weekend has been very cold – only about 6-7C here yesterday – perfect for a cassoulet!
Michelle – I’m so glad you enjoy my blog. Sadly the Masters no longer exists as Le Cordon Bleu withdrew it!
What a beautiful town! I hope I can go there some days.
The cassoulet recipes sounds delicious. I will love to try it soon 🙂
Amanda what a lovely idea to blog to such a theme – and very informative too. I recently made a cassoulet for the first time, using tuna steaks (so not very traditional). I must say I think it was a waste of good tuna because it cooks for so long, the tuna was pretty dry. Duck leg confit and sausages sound much much better!
Great looking Cassoulet. I would love to eat it in France with a view of the Pyrenees.
Such a fantastic idea by Barbara! I love that you’ve simplified the recipe – it looks rather tempting for me to tackle it now! 🙂
Jen – using canned beans saves quite a lot of time!
Mark – I’d love to eat it with a view of anything French!!
Sarah – I’ve made it before using very good quality pork chops and they work a treat, too!
I love cassoulet too! It’s so warming for winter 🙂 I really like how they’ve got a cooking segment on the TDF, finally Mr NQN and I can watch a sports show together! 😛
Yes, I’m afraid sports doesn’t usually do it for me, either!
We are lucky enough to get the last 2 hours of the race at 6-8am. I have been sitting up in bed. Hands over my eyes as they hurtle down those mountains. I’m sure they would love that Cassoulet to fill their exhausted bodies.
Cassoulet is my delicious, delicious kryptonite. If I was a superhero, my arch nemesis would only have to bring a pot of it to stop me.
It reminds me of French Culinary School and Pastry Class. We learned of a bike race from Brest to Paris and then were taught to prepare Paris-Brest. Delicious! I should try your recipe for good measure. Bon Appetit! 🙂