The cassoulet received rave reviews, as did the Toulouse sausages. Just a damn shame I was stricken with man-flu and was well enough to cook it, but not well enough to eat it ! Its a fairly flexible dish. I didn't confit the duck legs, just browned them, and chucked them in. After a couple of hours, the meat just fell off the bone. Definitely one to repeat in future 

And the Ulster Fry wasn't bad either !

Tapenadey goodness !!

The Toulouse sausages have been made, (pork shoulder, streaky bacon, thyme, garlic,  breadcrumbs, red wine, onion) all minced and mixed. I fried a little piece and it was scrumptious. I could have asked the butcher for sausage skins, but it would be a bit of a faff if you didn't have the gadget to help you fill it. So I'll roll it in cling film and poach it before a final browning in the pan. Don't think they'd be robust enough for the 4 hours cooking that the cassoulet will take.

I've made some chicken liver and brandy pate and some tapenade as a starter. Might just have it as a starter for tonight as well on toasted sourdough. Because they're GORGEOUS !

Tonight's main is moules mariniere. There's a conscientious objector in the house when it comes to mussels so there will probably be an Ulster Fry on the go as well.

The recipes I used are here:

Moules
Toulouse Sausages
Tapendade
Pate

brekkie

We get a regular consignment of maple syrup from relatives in Canada. The old combination of bacon, eggs, pancakes and syrup is hard to beat. 

For years I depended on getting a pre-prepared pancake mix, but had a go from scratch one day when we'd run out. A chastening experience because I discovered we'd been paying God knows what sort of price premium for what was basically flour and baking powder.  I use this recipe from the BBC Food website

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4915/american-blueberry-pancakes

Reading Peter Mayle is a bad idea for two reasons; one - he's not a very good writer, and two - he fills you with a burning desire to cook with a variety of ingredients which whilst no doubt plentiful in the south of France, are less common in.... Tesco's say. Can you imagine asking for bresaola or grelot onions? I was once naive enough to enquire after truffles and was asked if I preferred milk or dark chocolate! However the yearning is now firmly embedded, so a cassoulet its going to have to be.

Checking t'internet for recipes it appears that Toulouse sausages are mandatory. At this point I should refer you to problem number two above - where to find the damn things. Bizarrely both Tescos and Sainsbury's claim to stock them, but do they buggery. I could of course buy them over the web and pay one small fortune for them and another for delivery (well - ok a fiver- for delivery). But the idea of making them myself has lodged itself along with the whole year-in-provence-french-peasant-cuisine thing. So that's what we'll do.

I'll keep you posted.....