BOOK/A TABLE - Cassoulet

One evening, a number of years ago, after we’d knocked back practically a barrel of bourbon, my friend took it upon himself to read Ernest Hemingway’s The Short and Happy Life of Francis Macomber to us. Despite the title, there was nothing short about it; he read for what felt like hours. (Just imagine: a massive breath or a pause for another sip of Maker’s Mark to add dramatic effect as he turned each weighted page with a licked index finger.)

Frankly, I hadn’t much cared for Hemingway at that point, and this soliloquy damned near put an end to my interest in him entirely until I read A Moveable Feast—here was the extraordinary life of Hemingway himself, part of the Lost Generation in 20’s Paris! And eating his way through all of it!

Among the oysters and white wine (and Zelda and Gertrude Stein, of course), there was also cassoulet, the hearty dish of white beans, duck, and sausage. While the creation of cassoulet is attributed to Carcassonne in the region of Languedoc, Hemingway spotted it on a bistro menu in Montparnasse.

Cassoulet is a slow process of braising meat and aromatics (taking nearly as long to make as it takes to have The Short and Happy Life of Francis Macomber read to you), but well worth it. I also think it’s essential to then let your cassoulet sit overnight before heating it up again in the oven to serve.

Rest assured, when I laid this sumptous pot on the dinner table for some friends recently, I had everyone’s attention.

My favorite version is here, but you might like Julia Child’s epic foray, Jacques Pepin's “quick version” or a simpler chicken variation here, which is more like a fricassee.

As Hemingway wrote to a friend in 1950, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”

Do enjoy!

(Not So) Quickie Cassoulet 2016

As much as I like to linger in the kitchen, I simply didn't have much time this year to make a languorous celebratory cassoulet and thereby mark the seventh anniversary of my blog, eveningswithpeter.com! I couldn't help but think of Arlene Dahl's culinary epic No Time for Cooking as I set out to make Jacques Pepin's 30-Minute Cassoulet. I'll be perfectly frank--it didn't work out, at first. Entre nous, and with all due respect to the great chef, Pepin's cassoulet was more like a 90-minute 30-Minute Cassoulet. As presented, the recipe made little sense and nothing was fully cooked at the 30-minute mark. Was the Le Creuset skillet I used at fault? Was it not roomy enough for all the ingredients? I can't say for sure but after I fiddled with it for an additional hour, my cassoulet ended up being quite tasty. This may be served straightaway but the most important thing I've learned about cassoulet over the years--let it cool before sticking it in the refrigerator overnight and then reheating the next day to release the full flavor.

Let's go through this together, shall we?

1) Everything mostly goes into the pan in parts, starting with browning the ham (rolled shoulder ham a.k.a. daisy ham or Boston Butt) and Italian sausage and then cook covered for 7-8 minutes. Fine.

2) Add bratwurst, mushrooms, onion, garlic, thyme and bay, cook for another 5-6 minutes. Add canned cannellini beans, tomato, water (only a mere 1/2 cup!) and pepper to things, return to boil then reduce for 5 minutes.

And that's it.

So what to do with a bowl of under-cooked nothing with next to no soupy-like liquid for dipping a grilled, olive oil-slathered slice of country bread? I removed the bratwurst and mushrooms from the pale disaster in a skillet and browned them in a separate pan with the onions. I added two cups of water and a porcini mushroom cube and some tomato juice (from the can of already diced tomatoes I used) to make stock. The bratwurst mixture went back in to the skillet. I let this simmer for about a half hour (toward the end, uncovered) to reduce the liquid.

About here it began to resemble cassoulet--and cooked at that! The lesson here? Flip this recipe around a bit and remember it is not a race to achieve a great cassoulet--cook onions and mushrooms first and brown all the meat! Double the amount of liquid at least and simmer down! Let all the ingredients cordially greet one another in the refrigerator overnight and served with grilled country bread!

Do enjoy and thanks to folks for reading eveningswithpeter.com!

Cassoulet 2015

It hardly seems like another year could have possibly passed in which I celebrate the anniversary of my blog, but it has! As usual, I found a different cassoulet recipe to make in proud honor of my first post. Epicurious.com was responsible for this one, employing a recipe from the March 2006 issue of Gourmet magazine. While it was tasty certainly, it wasn't exactly among my favorite instructions of the other more hearty, traditional French classic preparations that I've made over the years. I subbed pork loin for pork shoulder (it was just easier--and cheaper!) and as much as some readers may cringe, I used a couple of cans of white beans instead of taking the time to let dried beans soak overnight. Instead of the suggested pork sausage, I rounded up some D'Artagnan wild boar sausage as well as a rabbit-pork-ginger blend to great effect. A delight! However you personalize your cassoulet, I do find it absolutely essential to let the dish rest, refrigerated for a day or two, before slowly reheating and serving to your guests. Make the crumb topping (a great touch) just before this step and do enjoy!

Thanks to folks for reading eveningswithpeter.com!

Anniversary Cassoulet

Five years ago, I started my blog with the introduction of a cassoulet recipe. So here we are again with my anniversary cassoulet, a marvelous hearty mix of duck, duck sausage and white beans! Saveur magazine came through with a fabulous recipe that I had never tried for a different cassoulet in celebration. Japanese panko bread crumbs stepped in for regular bread crumbs--and I did not make my own duck confit although I have created a fantastic shortcut that I find to be as good as any other recipe, with the benefit naturally of being less time consuming (instructions found here alongside a harrowing dinner tale!).

The process began on Monday evening and the meal rested in the refrigerator for two days. The Le Creuset cast-iron cassoulet dish was brought to room temperature and shortly before our guests arrived, the dish was heated up while the duck was sliced thinly and then baked with it. Bottles of rich, robust Cotes Du Rhone reds were absolutely perfect to consume with our cassoulet--and dried antique hydrangeas, a vase of white roses perched atop an illumined vintage cake stand flanked by brass candlesticks with white candles made for a stunning centerpiece. 

Thanks to folks for reading EveningsWithPeter.com!

Here's what was on the menu:

To Sip
Veuve Cliquot
Cotes Du Rhone
Cotes Du Rhone-Villages

To Snack
Green Grapes
Salted Smokehouse Almonds
Farm-ish, Sheepy Roncal Medium-Soft Cheese

To Sup
Green Beans Almondine
Cassoulet au Canard--White Bean and Duck Casserole!

To Sweet
Chocolate Bread Pudding

Soundtrack: C'est Chic! French Girl Singers of the 1960's; Paris Combo, Living Room; Serge Gainsbourg, Couleur Cafe; Diva, movie soundtrack; Pizzicato Five, Made in USA 

Cupboard Cassoulet

Today marks the first anniversary of my food blog, Evenings With Peter! For my first entry a year ago, I made Julia Child's cassoulet; the process consuming, spreading over several days, the results uproarious! This year I wanted to commemorate all this blogging by featuring another, simpler one day affair cassoulet from cooking.com that I had first made about ten years ago.

Sometimes I think if Baby and I had to choose, we would rather just have a big freezer instead of a refrigerator--we freeze everything, from homemade veal and lobster stocks to ready-made pie crusts, venison steaks, sea bass fillets, chicken breasts, ground pork, and pork bones for soup, tomato sauces, legs of duck confit and Polish boczek. So much came in handy when we rooted through our carefully stocked cupboards and freezer, wanting to use as much as we already had on hand to make this ultimately easy and oh-so rewarding cassoulet, richly layered in flavors and textures.

We didn't soak our beans overnight, opting for canned instead, added toward the end, which I think works just fine, as there's enough else going on here. We thawed veal stock, a leg of duck confit, and used a pork bone for flavor instead of a smoked ham hock--boczek subbed for pancetta here and added the vital smokiness we would have otherwise gotten from the ham hock. Two heads of garlic, an onion, cloves, 1 dry cube each of vegetable and bouquet garni stock, and a few cans of white cannellini beans were pulled from the larder, along with a cup of crushed tomatoes from another can (instead of two quartered tomatoes that the recipe suggested). We ended up buying only 2 lbs. boneless cubed lamb shoulder, 1 lb. cooked pork sausage, a carrot and two celery stalks to complete our cassoulet, topped with a homemade stash of bread crumbs, 1/2 cup sprinkled upon the proceedings just before everything goes into a preheated 400 degree oven.

There was an unopened bottle of a dry white French Frederic Mallo riesling in our refrigerator, so we used a cup to deglaze the pan and simmered the lamb with more veal stock (thereby removing the gaminess from the lamb)--the balance of the excellent, heady vino accompanied our hearty dinner.

Although the cassoulet may be served after the few hours it takes in preparation, plan ahead and be patient (despite the great ribbons of aroma undulating about the kitchen). Let it cool down and keep the dish in the refrigerator for a day or two before reheating over a low flame stovetop and serving.

We will eat this for days--and of course freeze whatever is left over.

If I may say so, Happy Anniversary, Evenings With Peter! Thanks to folks for reading!

Cassoulet

Baby and I were just enthralled watching DVDs of Julia Child's show The French Chef and became so inspired that we decided to really try and utilize any of the many cookbooks filling the shelves in our pantry more frequently. The French Chef Cookbook that features recipes from the ground-breaking show was a natural to start with and first up was Cassoulet (The Thirty-ninth Show)! And you must say it as she would have, like a flute stuffed with cotton. Cassoulet!

Now, we don't shy away from the complicated meals, the ones that take a week to prepare. Ask our recent guests that reveled in Onion Soup, Lobster Yorkshire Puddings with a vanilla chive sauce and tarragon chiffonade as a precedent to our Filet Mignon (with homemade demi glace) and a side of asparagus drizzled with Michael Lomonaco's Shallot Champagne Vinaigrette from '21'. But we certainly picked a doozy to start out with in recreating Julia's Cassoulet. We started on Monday, and finished on Friday, shortly before our guests arrived.

Apart from the food served, the success of any dinner party hinges upon the guests involved. Ours were split into three camps, who were excited for three different reasons. For the Sisters M, Cassoulet is their favorite thing, and they immediately set out to find red wines for a perfect pairing; Slushy had never tried the dish before; and Islip (Slushy's boyfriend) had never heard of anybody taking a week to prepare a meal. I recently learned that we inspired him to make a somewhat elaborate meal of his own for Slushy. That's perhaps the most exciting news.

Once we had settled on our main dish and the guests involved, I started thinking about what else to serve--and I must say that everything we created for this meal was a really wonderful journey. So Cassoulet is probably the most hearty dish ever, right? I didn't want to serve cheeses, meats, or anything else to weigh our guests down. I remembered from years back a friend had served salted radishes with butter as a starter. Perfect! I kept the leafy greens intact and spread them across an olive wood cutting board with a ramekin of butter on the side. Not only did it all look gorgeous by the flicker of candlelight, the radishes were quickly devoured.

Recalling an article from Saveur (my favorite magazine, I've kept every issue--it features Reese's Cups as readily as it does foie gras), I thought an elegant platter of white asparagus with pink-tinged tips would make for a superb first course. It certainly wowed our friends, and never having made it before, wowed Baby and I as well. It was Saveur that taught us to shave the tough skin of white asparagus, which you don't have to do with the green variety, and simmer the stalks in water with butter, lemon and salt (I assume to remove the bitterness). I added Bay leaves to the water for another layer of flavor. Riffing on the aforementioned Shallot Champagne Vinaigrette, I brushed a blend of lemon and oregano infused olive oils, garlic, and white wine vinegar on the asparagus.

The Cassoulet was well worth the time spent. It was decidedly a hit! We had prepared our lamb on Monday, and made our sausage cakes. Tuesday, we roasted the pork! As we had theater tickets on Wednesday, we took the night off. Thursday, we soaked our beans and prepared for the final assembly. Then the Cassoulet only had to bake for an hour before it was ready to go.

We had just planned on serving lemon sorbet with basil for dessert but I was unsatisfied with that. How do you serve something as rich as Cassoulet and then cap it off with sorbet? No, we needed a bejeweled crown. Then the March issue of Gourmet magazine arrived with a recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Clafoutis ("somewhere between custard and cake") and it was easy as pie. Most of it's done in a blender and couldn't be more jaw-dropping.

Et voila, mes cheres, here we have a perfect evening suited for Cassoulet!

Soundtrack: Martinis with Mancini; Austin Powers Soundtrack; Serge Gainsbourg, Couleur Cafe; Paris Combo, living-room