Ragoût of haricots blancs

This is a dish that can have a thousand lives, starting as a simple stew and can end up as a bourguignon-styled stew! 

Ingredients:

Seasoning: 2 bay leaves, a pinch of Herbes de Provence, sea salt and pepper, an entier dried Piment d'Espelette (otherwise use any dried mild peppers)

smoked pork belly (about 150g) or lardon fumé in French

200 g ground lamb

200g ground beef 

500g of dried white butter beans (called haricots blancs in French or cannellini beans in Italian)

100g sun-dried tomatoes, chopped roughly

1 big onion, diced

2 medium-sized carrots, cut into coins

3-4 cloves of garlic with skin, smashed

1 cup of dry white wine

Soak the beans overnight, changing the water once or twice (at least 12 hours). Drain and keep aside.

In a large casserole, render the lardon with some olive oil, add the beef and lamb once the lardon starts to brown on the sides. Mix well. Add in the garlic, onions, sun-dried tomatoes and cracked piment d'Espelette (remove the seeds if you want less spiciness). Add the beans and the rest of the seasoning, stir well, add the wine and enough water to cover the whole mixture. Cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes before adding the carrots. Depending on how soft you want the beans, the mix will cook well but under very low heat for 2 - 3 hours. Serve hot with a sprinkle of freshly chopped parsley, a sprinkle of fleur de sel and a squirt of extra-virgin olive oil.

 A whole dried piment d'Espelette -  an AOC produce from the Southwest of France. It has a decidedly smoky flavour and a mild spiciness.

 The beans, soaked for half a day (longer if you need softer beans). Fresh of course, is the best but be careful as it will not stand stewing any longer than a fresh bean should...

Lardon fumé, or smoked pork belly.

The finished product: served with bread it makes a hearty dish for the chills of the onset of autumn. For the Malaysian tropics, well, some restraints with the serving and an air-conditionned environment is ideal...

Leftovers from the dish can be recycled to become the base for a bourguignon-styled stew: 

-add choice of beef cuts or lamb to the stew;

-add 1/2 a bottle of red wine

-stew till stock reduced and beef/lamb tender

-add pan seared mushrooms (Swiss brown or even Shiitake)

-adjust the seasoning

-thicken the sauce with a knob of beurre remanié ( soften butter with flour)