Tonight we had Pork-Oulet. This is a play on the original Cassoulet recipe that I was inspired to try because I watched Guy Fieri this past weekend. www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/pork-oulet-recipe/index.html I will say, I am not at all impressed with the name, but the dish was delicious and I got a thumbs up from Hubby, Daughter and Daughter's Boyfriend.

I started by taking 1/4 pound of thick sliced bacon pieces and sauted that in my cast iron Dutch Oven on medium low heat. While that was cooking I seasoned the chunks of pork butt and chicken thighs with salt and pepper. One thing I did that the recipe didn't call for was to cut through the bones in the chicken thighs to add more flavor. I did find out that if you do plan on doing this putting the skin side down on the cutting board before trying to whack it with the cleaver is a good idea. On the first one I removed the skin first, then whacked it. I ended up slicing open my finger. Thank goodness for bandages and plastic gloves because this is definitely a get your "hands dirty" kind of recipe.

Anyway, it all went fairly smooth and no one else got hurt after that. Took the bacon out and set it on a paper towel to drain. Browned the pork butt in the bacon drippings first, then removed to a bowl (wanted to catch all the flavor in the juices). Next came the chicken, browned it then added it to pork butt. Finally onions, carrots and celery. Let that cook until onions were transparent, added garlic, cooked about a minute then added flour. I added too much flour so I immediately added some of the chicken stock and made a sort of rue. It got very pasty so I decided to add the whole container of chicken stock (4 cups) I then put all of the pork and chicken back in - I used 8 chicken thighs instead of 4. I threw in my two bay leaves, lowered the stove to simmer and put the lid back on. I let that simmer for two hours. I drained my beans (I used canned white beans - that was all I could find at the store, but I think they are the same as cannellini beans) and added them to the pot. Cooked another 25 minutes and voila! it was dinner time. I made some garlic toast and it was a really tasty cold weather meal. Oh yeah, I couldn't find the cipollini onions, so I used regular, diced yellow onions that I had in the freezer. I like to buy a big bag of onions and dice them all at once then freeze them in small ziploc baggies. It works great!

I think I am going to go watch some TV now cuz my belly is full and I want to snuggle under a blanket.

Happy Eating!!