Pascal Aussignac took the country cooking of Gascony, gave it some modern flourishes – wasabi chantilly, for example – and brought it to London in 1998, when he opened Club Gascon. Within four years, the restaurant won a Michelin star, which it has kept to this day. This summer bean cassoulet demonstrates his take on traditional French cooking.
Make Pascal Aussignac's summer cassoulet
A French classic is given a new seasonal spin in this veg-focused cassoulet that's fragrant with lavender and makes a perfect light lunch
Pascal Aussignac's summer cassoulet
Annie Brooks
Serves 6
Preparation time 20 mins
Cooking time 30 mins
Ingredients
- 2 tins of cooked plain beans
- 200g girolle mushrooms
- 2 sprigs lavender
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 4 large tomatoes
- Icing sugar
- 200g olive oil
- 5ml white balsamic vinegar
- 20g black quinoa
- Gladiola flowers (optional)
- 500g vegetable oil
- 100g broad beans
- Rocket cress
- Black pepper
- Salt
Method
- Drain the beans and blend half with olive oil to make a purée. Season.
- Fry the other half of the beans until fluffy and light in texture. Season.
- Blanch the quinoa in boiling water for 20 minutes, dry, and fry them in the same oil as the beans.
- Blanch the tomatoes to remove the skin and cut them into quarters. Lay them in a little tray and sprinkle them with some icing sugar, salt and thyme. Leave to marinade for a few hours or activate the process in an oven with a little heat to dry them out.
- Cut the cleaned girolles in two and put them in a casserole dish. Cover with water and cook them for a few minutes before straining the jus into another casserole dish.
- Add the lavender, olive oil and white balsamic vinegar to the jus. Blend the mix to make a vinaigrette.
- Pan fry the girolles with olive oil and season them.
- Blanch the broad beans for a few minutes until they are al dente.
- Dot the purée onto a plate. Add the girolles and the crispy beans, confit tomato, broad beans and quinoa on top of the purée, and the sauce around plus some rocket cress on top. Finish with a final touch of gladiola petals.
This recipe comes from Pascal Aussignac of Michelin-starred Club Gascon in association with London in the Sky. The sky-high event returns to the capital from 5-15 July. To get a taste of Pascal's cooking 100ft above the air, head to eventsinthesky.co.uk to book
