Feijoada (Brazilian Black Bean Stew)

As chance would have it, we have a Brazilian Café here that has a fantastic lunch-time dish: Feijoada (fay-uh-WAD-uh). It is, by my estimation, a Portuguese cassoulet. The starchy base is made with black beans and onions with a protein-y richness from ham hock, lardons, and sausage. I've slow-cooked mine all day, and the results are spot-on. Here's how I did it.

Ingredients:

• 500g black beans
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 150g Keilbasa sausage, sliced
• 1 smoked gammon knuckle (ham hock)
• 250g bacon lardons, diced
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1. Soak the black beans overnight. 
2. In a large Dutch oven, sauté the onions in half of the vegetable oil until translucent. Add in the garlic and stir for another 2 minutes. Next, pour in the drained black beans and cover with water. Bring to the boil and let simmer for 2 hours.
3. In a separate pot, cover the smoked ham hock with water, bring to the boil and let simmer for 2 hours. 
4. Reserve the broth from the simmering ham hock. At this point the meat should almost be falling off the bone. Place meat in a foil-lined pan along with the sausage and diced bacon lardons. 
5. Here the key step: put all the meat under the broiler and keep a close eye on it, stirring it around. You want the meat to get crispy on the edges. 
6. At this point, your beans should be fully cooked and the starch from them should have thickened the broth. Add in the char-grilled meats and top up the liquid in the pot using some of the broth reserved from the simmer ham hock. Add some freshly ground pepper to taste. Simmer an additional 20-30 minutes. 
7. Serve warm over rice or fufu.