This one’s for Liz and her flood party challenge. See: it’s gonna flood.

She’s got tinned potatoes (just a little side note here… tinned potatoes? That’s farkin’ awesome), tinned tomatoes, tinned beans, spam, lettuce, pumpkin, parsley and quinoa. Ahh quinoa (pronounced kinwah), another one
of my personal fav’s.

I’m going out on limb here since I don’t have any actual knowledge about cooking spam, but I am going to pretend
that I know heaps about it and, say with conviction, that tonight Liz will be cooking a bumper meal of… spam and
tomato “cassoulet” with a quinoa crust, crushed potatoes and parsley and a simple leaf salad.

Yeah kid.

OK. First the cassoulet. If you want to see a prime example of a cassoulet in all it’s glory, suss out the version
Guillaume Brahimi does on sbsfood.com.au.

But, if you wanna make a flooded-in-and-have-to-use-the-stuff-in-my-cupboard-and-i’m-not-even-sure-what-spam-
is-doing-there cassoulet, then this is the recipe for you.

Pre-heat oven to 180C.
In an oven proof pan fry off one diced onion and 2 cloves of chopped garlic.
Add yer spam, chopped into bite sized chunks. Fry for a minute or two and hopefully it will start to brown up.
Add a couple of tins of cannellini beans, a tin of tomatoes, a bouquet garni (back a few posts), seasoning and a splash of water or stock to moisten it up.
Cover the top with a layer of cooked quinoa (suss out how to cook it a couple of posts back), just like you were putting breadcrumbs on yer mac and cheese.
Brush or douse with a little olive oil or butter and into the oven for 30 minutes, or until brown and crusty.

For the crushed potatoes I am assuming that potatoes in a can are already cooked, so maybe just put them in a microwave safe bowl and crush them a little with a masher or your hands. Heat them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes and then mix in some butter (don’t by shy now), a handful of chopped parsley and some salt and pepper. Heat the potatoes when your “cassoulet” is almost ready so they are still hot when you eat.

And the leaf salad. Whatever leaves you have, a handful of picked parsley and a sharp vinaigrette of 1 part lemon juice or vinegar, 3 parts olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Dress this puppy at the table when you’re ready to eat so the leaves don’t get soggy.

Let me know how you go…