BAKED BEANS PROVENCALE STYLE (haricots secs a la Provencale, for eight)

8 cups presoaked navy or great northern beans (Note that Claude calls for presoaked beans.  That means you have picked over the beans, covered them with an inch or two of water and soaked them for at least 6 hours or overnight.  Remember that beans expand as they soak.  Two or three cups of dried beans will easily produce 8 cups of soaked beans.)

1 cup rich broth (or you can substitute a commercial beef broth)

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 onions, thinly sliced

4 sprigs parsley, chopped

1 bouquet garnie

1 preserved goose thigh (preserved goose thigh is not readily available in my part of the world, so I substituted a duck leg confit from D’Artagnan, which worked nicely – I removed and discarded the skin and bones when the beans were done, and shredded the meat back into the beans)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

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1.   Preheat the oven to 350*.

2.  Put the beans, rich broth, oil, butter, onions, parsley, bouquet garni and goose thigh into an oven proof pot with a tight fitting lid.  Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. 

3.  Bake for three to four hours, so that the beans will be cooked and the sauce reduced and thickened.

adapted from Claire Joyes, Monet’s Table, the Cooking Journals of Claude Monet