Committee Meetings and Course Revision.

Monday and back to the normal week for everyone. MM (does anyone remember that horrendous womens magazine that had a segment called Mere Male? You could write in with your item about the daft thing the simpleton in your life had just managed to achieve for all the other readers' sanctimonious amusement. So I'll adopt that term here!) back at work, kids back at school and me with the house to myself. Love Mondays! Today is about tidying up. I have finally given in to the clothes dryer for the season. After spending the last few weeks putting the washing out then bringing it in at the end of the day still damp and finding I'd only be shortening the dryer cycle by thirty minutes, I have just gone straight for the dryer. I also relented and did some vacuuming. This, theoretically is someone else's job but funny how they always manage to get out of it! Vacuuming in my house also means picking up after everyone first, I job I really grudge because it means I failed yet again to get them to clean up after themselves. I managed to get enough done to feed my inner self-satisfaction before I had to shoot off to a committee meeting. I've tried really hard over the years to avoid getting onto committees but I must have had my defenses down the day I agreed to be chairperson for the meetings of the organising committee for our little local community festival. Two hours later, pick up the kids from school, MM is out tonight at a revision session before his course exam next week and there's not enough leftovers from last night's curry to feed the tribe. So it's time to fall back on an old reliable. Something I can prepare fairly quickly, then stick in a slow oven until dinnertime. I'm doing a simplified Lamb Cassoulet. I've never cooked a real cassoulet before but I'm fairly certain there should be some kind of garlicky sausage in it as well as some pork belly or something like that. This doesn't have any of those things but I have added bacon before. I picked this recipe up in a magazine a couple of years ago and snipped it so I can't even tell you which magazine it came from. Oh, and it didn't look like this picture which is actually a traditional cassoulet but it sure tastes good. The important thing is; everyone likes it and in my book that makes it a winner. So here it is:-

1 tablespoon olive oil
6 lamb forequarter chops. I like to cut them in half.
1-2 medium to large onions depending on size, chopped
6 large garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
a few sprigs of rosemary
400g or 6oz (approx) can of butter beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 cup white wine or chicken stock or mixture
400g 6oz (approx) can of chopped tomatoes

I like to use my large enamel cast iron casserole pot for this. Preheat oven to 150 deg C. Rub the oil over the meat. Heat the casserole pot on the stove then brown the lamb in batches and put aside. Turn the heat down and add the onion, garlic and rosemary to the pan. Cook for about five minutes just until it starts to colour then add the beans to the pan. Return the lamb with any juices. Pour the combined wine or stock, tomato paste and chopped tomatoes over. Cover and bake for 2 - 2 1/2 hours. The lamb will be falling off the bone and the gravy will be lovely and thick and flavoursome. Serve with creamy mased potatoes and some steamed green vegetables.

Did you try this recipe? Tell me what you think.

I found this great site for cookbooks.