Cassoulet

Monday 29th October 2018 - Castelnaudray.

This our second night at Castelnaudray, it is east of Toulouse, halfway to Carcassonne.  It is a place we have previously passed by but never stopped.  We stayed on an aire which is next to the Canal du Midi and on the edge of the centre of town.  The weather has taken a turn for the worse.  It's very grey and we have had a little drizzle but it is the cold wind that is taking the temperatures down to 5 degrees Celsius.  We only intended to stay one night here because it had electricity and we wanted to keep warm without using our gas on the van's central heating system.  However, we are staying a second night, partly for the same reason but mainly because winds of up to 55mph were forecast for this afternoon and I didn't fancy being blown around on the roads.  The advance forecast is for the temperatures to go up but it is still rather unsettled for the next week in the south France and north Spain areas.

Yesterday we only had a walk around the town.  In 1210 the town was controlled by Simon De Montford, who had a decent reputation as a Christian Crusader but he was keen on wiping out the local Cathars.  He brought Cathar prisoners from a nearby village and had their eyes gouged out and their ears, noses and lips cut off. One prisoner was left with a single good eye, so he could see what happened and could tell others as a warning.  Nice chap!  He now has a University named after him in Leicester.

Castelnaudray claims to be the true home of the Cassoulet as that was the food they ate during the 100 Years War siege of the town by the English in 1355.  The Cassoulet didn't do them much good as the town was ransacked by the English led by Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III.  If you don't know Cassoulet is a one pot meal of duck leg, sausage and mainly beans.  

The Canal du Midi just behind our aire de camping.

We walked around the outside of a Rugby Stadium whilst the local team were playing Cahors but we didn't want to pay the 10 euro entrance fee and neither did we fancy standing still for over an hour when we were already cold.

This is a picture of the town across a basin in the Canal.  It probably would be lovely if the sun was shining.

Today's objective is to make a Cassoulet in the slow cooker.  We walked into town to get the ingredients and were pleasantly surprised to see the market was on.  So we got the duck and the duck sausage from a stall and some nice herbs and haricot beans too.  This is what it looks like now...

I just licked the spoon I used to stir it....yummy!

We have been out for a walk to the windmill on the other side of town.

Again, it would have been lovely in better weather.  The views to the north would be extensive.  We are going to brave the wind with another little walk along the Canal and then shower ready for our meal.  The shower will be interesting as we are using our new lightweight microfibre towels for the first time.  It can't be worse than using a flannel to dry off so I don't expect a problem.

The nights are long and dark now as the clocks went back on Saturday.  We will get snuggled up and warm.  Still not allowing ourselves any booze although it is tough when we are in a wine producing area and the food is so nice.  The produce definately tastes better.  We had some of Tim's hens' eggs for lunch....so eggy with deep yellow yokes.

Janice has read the blog and has given her permission for us to have 'a' glass of red wine with the Cassoulet, even though it is Monday.  Yippee.  She's easily tempted.