The lifecycle of roast duck: Quick Cassoulet

A proper cassoulet is something you should make once in a lifetime.  Freshly soaked and cooked haricot beans, proper confit duck, chunks of braised pork belly, authentic, coarse garlicky Toulouse sausages.  It is a wonderful, rich and complex dish, quite fatty, cooked for ages and probably not for the faint-hearted.  This version, on the other hand, is simple, quick and healthy, and made perfect TV supper fodder in a bowl.  Don't skimp on the quality of the ingredients, though, as simplicity exposes cheap products.  So, I started with the remaining 2 roast duck legs from the weekend, skinned and pulled from the bones in large chunks.  Then I halved three fresh Toulouse-style sausages - most supermarkets do them these days - mine were from Waitrose.  The sausages were browned in a cast iron casserole in a tablespoon of olive oil and a very finely chopped onion and carrot.  Next, half a tin or so of good chopped tomatoes were added - I use the Cirio brand.  To this was added a clove of garlic, chopped, the duck meat, about 300mls of veg stock and a big jar of good white beans - mine were from the Reflets du France range at Ocado.  Drain and rinse them, then chuck into the sauce.  Add a handful of chopped parsley and bake, uncovered, at 180 for half-an-hour.  Now, blend a tablespoon of parsley with a slice of white bread and sprinkle on top of the casserole.  Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes until the crumbs have gone brown and crusty.  Let everything settle for a few minutes then scoop into bowls and eat with a spoon!  Enough for 2 with leftovers for hubby tomorrow.