We suffered from irritation rain today so were a bit lazy. Well, Francine wasn’t lazy; she did some laundry before the rain began and managed to get it dry on a washing line strung up under Guillaume’s awning.
During yesterday’s shopping trip we’d picked up a pack of gesiers de canards [duck gizzards]. I know, that may sound unappealing to many but we love ‘em. Without careful treatment gizzards are even tougher than yesterday’s bloody rumsteck was; they need long, slow cooking to turn them into the delicacy that they can become. They are prepared as a confit, essentially simmered slowly in fat, and make a tasty salade tiede [warm salad] when reheated and served over some fresh salad leaves.
The best laid plans of mice and men, etc. With the irritation rain the last thing today felt like was a salad day, either tiede or otherwise. It was time to rethink our catering plans. Good ol’ Francine came up with the idea of using our remaining half of the coco de Paimpol mixed with the gesiers and some saucisse (which we needed to go and buy – we even found Toulouse sausages but given that we’re a mere 50kms from Toulouse that may be less than surprising) to make a cheat’s cassoulet. Brilliant! Half a chance of a cassoulet and I’m in.
It worked out rather well and was probably the highlight of an otherwise nothing sort of day.
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