Cassoulet

I've read through the Cassoulet recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking but have been intimidated by ingredients such as "goose". If anyone ever knows where to find this meat, you drop me a note :D There are other things (depending on the recipe) like "duck comfit" which is like a duck preserve (what!!?).

I do love the whole concept of Cassoulet though. If you read about the history of Cassoulet (this article is very enlightening: http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/topic_id/8/id/104/) you will see that it allows for great variation. And I LOVE that!

If you go to this page (Food Network), you will see the recipe that I ... uhm ... DIDN'T follow.

What I have loved about Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child et. al. is that it teaches you TECHNIQUE . So you start being able to apply the basic techniques of braising or making stews to a wide variety of dishes.

Here are the thoughts that guided MY version of this recipe.

• I looked at the recipe from the Food Network, and thought "hey, I could apply the technique for making bœuf bourguignon and just use these other ingredients.
• Veal shanks? Veal = Red meat = Beef. There we go. I used a packet of stewing beef with bone since (a) it's cheaper and (b) the bones add great flavor.
• I don't know how "white" beans can be "navy beans" (OK, he's got a link to explain it) but I just used white haricot beans which is what is used a lot in other recipes. The great thing about haricot beans is that it absorbes the flavors from the rest of the dish and provides fantastic protein without messing up the taste of the dish. (It's what "bake beans" are made of.)
• 10 cups water? Well, that depends on the size of your dish. And I really can not cook something like this without red wine. I used my large Le Creuset (heirloom) pot and trust me, I filled this thing to the top. The water I added (unmeasured) was just enough to start covering all the ingredients and then I topped it up further with red wine.
• I'm also thinking, where would I get "ham hocks" from? On second thought, Ham = Pig = Bacon. Voila, we're using fatty bacon.
• The shop where I did my grocery shopping didn't have fancy sausages but it did have great Chorizo, so that went in.
• And then, for a great twist, I added CHICKEN. Yep, chicken. 6 chicken thighs, and 2 drum sticks. Because I had some. Don't you just love these "peasant stews" that are made up from whatever you have available?

Coming back to bullet point one on Technique: I first browned the beef pieces. Put aside in a dish. Then I browned the chicken and moved them over to the same holding dish. Then came the bacon pieces (I used a whole packet, chopped in bits). When this was nicely done (but not crispy!!!) and removed, I added the vegetables. Yes, this I actually kept the same since onions, carrots and celery form the basis of good mirepoix. Do not brown them but wait until the onions start going glossy before continuing.

Keep the mirepoix in the pot (remember I'm using my Le Creuset casserole), layer the bacon over, then add the chicken. Try to keep them in one layer. Sprinkle with the "Essence" as indicated in the original Food Network recipe. I didn't want to make it too spicy for the kids, so used half the cayenne pepper. Hubby just added some Tabasco to the final dish and loved it.  (Note: I didn't have onion or garlic powder so left this out but the final spice mix was still great.) Then sprinkle with flour. Lift, turn and turn back the pieces of chicken so the some of this spice and flour covers the bacon and veg below. Now add the browned meat and sprinkle with Essence and flour. Stir through the meat pieces to cover them well.

NOTE on the beans. In the morning I placed the raw beans in a large pot, covered well with cold water (about 2 cm's above them). Do NOT add salt. Salt and acids (e.g. tomato, vinegar etc) can make the bean husks go hard so add any additional salt at the END of your dish's cooking time. Place this on a stove and heat the water until it starts boiling. Let it boil for 5 minutes. Then turn off the stove, remove the pot and let the beans soak for 1 hour. I just let it stand like this until I needed them (which was about 2 hours later). DRAIN THEM before using in the recipe.

Carrying on: Top the meat in the casserole with beans, add the water and red wine as I mentioned in my bullet above. Make sure it comes to a bubble on the stove top before moving to the oven.

I covered my casserole with a sheet of foil before placing the lid on top (helps keep evaporation down). Since the pot was filled so much, I placed the whole casserole inside a metal baking dish to catch any overflow (which it did).

Place in a 160 Celsius oven.

After one hour, add the sliced Chorizo, make sure they're nice and covered by the liquid. Push them into the dish with a spoon.

Cook the dish for another 1.5 hours and make sure the beans are cooked before doing the last step.

Remove the dish from the casserole into an open dish. (Glass, ceramic, etc). You must be able to spread the meat and beans nicely. Cover with the cheese/crumb/parsley mixture and grill for 10 minutes as per the original recipe.

The Verdict?
I managed to snatch this pic before it was gone:

The dinner guests loved it but more importantly, the kids loved it and so did Dad. He said he didn't know what to make of this dish. Every bite tasted like another dish but as a whole it's fantastic too (especially with his added Tobasco*grin*). We had it with crusty white bread (which got dipped into the sauces LOL) and Polenta.

Meringues

I love to make Creme Brulee as a treat and use this recipe which is easy and comes out fabulous. But this leaves me with 8 egg whites!  So the obvious thing to do is Meringue!

This Meringue recipe comes from the classic book "Cook and Enjoy". First is the original measurements followed by the adjustment for 8 egg whites.

3 egg whites

pinch salt

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup castor sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence



Preheat oven to 120 Celsius.

Beat egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar until stiff but not dry

Add the castor sugar by the spoonful, beat well after each addition.

Add the vanilla essence just before the last two spoons of castor sugar.

Line a baking sheet with butter / baking paper.

Shape the meringues on the paper with a spoon or use an icing bag and tube.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour and lift meringues off paper with a spatula.

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Adjustment:
8 egg whites

2 -3 pinches salt
2.5 ml cream of tartar

2.5 cups castor sugar

6.5ml vanilla essence

(Method is the same)

The ultimate weapon!

Poulet Poché au Vin Blanc, Gratiné

So what does Poulet Poché au Vin Blanc, Gratiné (Chicken poached in white wine, herbs and aromatic vegetables, then Gratinéed with Cheese Sauce) look like?

(I do not aim to copy the recipe here. Can be found in Mastering the Art of French Cooking)

In this first (blurry) picture, I have just added the liquid (1 cup dry white wine + 1.5 cup chicken stock) to the chicken and butter-braised onions & carrots. About 5 sprigs each of thyme and parsley are your herbs (you can also add a bay leaf):

Once the chicken is done, you remove it from the pan / casserole and place in a buttered (optional) glass dish. I covered it with foil but you do not have to keep it warm at this stage since the last step in the dish will heat it up.

Pour all the liquid through a sieve into a stainless steel pot. Heat up to boil and skim any foam off. Keep boiling while making the roux and velouté.

Create a 'roux'

In a seperate pot, melt 1.75oz of butter until bubbling but not browning. Add 1oz flour and stir well. Let it bubble for about 2 minute, stirring continually (lift pot from heat if it threatens to brown the roux.

Make the 'velouté '

Pour all the boiling stock into the roux and whisk vigorously with a whisk (remember to use a silicone one if you have a non-stick pot!). Place over low heat and keep whisking as the sauce thickens.

Turn your 'velouté' into a Sauce Mornay

Add about 1.5 oz of coarsely grated Gruyère cheese to the sauce and stir until well mixed. Pour sauce over the chicken.

Sprinkle another 1.5 oz (or more to taste) of cheese over the top and place under a hot grill (if the chicken was still warm). If the chicken was cold you need to put it into an oven, preheated to 375F for 25 - 30 minutes until the dish is bubbling nicely. (Careful not to re-cook the dish as it will dry out the chicken - especially if you have white meat pieces).

Here's the final dish:

Cake: Israelites through the Red Sea

I made this cake a while back for the Friday play group. The story for the day was the parting of the Red Sea and voila! a very easy cake.

The cake is one large round cake baked in a 22cm cake pan (cake rose to the top). This can also be done with two normal sized cakes that you would layer to get the required height.
I first put a layer of icing glaze (icing sugar mixed with water) along where the middle would be and then positioned the two halves of the cake on both sides.
The inside edges of each side was cut down with a knife. It was iced with blue-colored butter icing and some icing glazed was used to pipe along the ridges to simulate waves. I crushed some biscuits and sprinkled them on the glaze in the open area for 'sand'. Little jelly-babies made up the 'Israelites'. And just for something extra for the kids I lined up marshmallow fish around the outside.

Strawberry and cream tart

I haven't been posting here for a while since my newest hobby (cardmaking) has taken up pretty much most of my spare time. See www.redcardcorner.blogpost.com).

But I do want to share with anyone who manages to stumble over this blog, a delicious, decadent and extremely easy tart.

NOTE: best made day before!!

Ingredients:
500ml whipping cream
1 standard tin strawberry jam
2-3 packets Tennis (square coconut) biscuits

Method:
Whip the cream until nice and stiff. Be careful to overwhip so it doesn't turn into butter :-)
You want it in a nice spreadable consistency.
Empty the tin of strawberry jam in a bowl and soften with a spoon.
Add the jam to the whipped cream and fold in well with a spatula.

In a rectangular glass dish, spread a very thin layer of the cream filling in the bottom.
Place one layer of biscuits on top. (break some biscuits as needed to make sure most of the cream layer is covered.
Add a layer of cream on top, enough to cover the biscuits.
Place another layer of biscuits and cream. Repeat as needed and end with a cream layer.

I usually have three biscuit layers.
Keep in the fridge at least over night. Serve COLD.

OPTIONAL:
sprinkle each layer of biscuits with sherry before putting a cream layer.

Tip: Water on hand

I have found that having one or two water bottles with 'pull-out' lids to be quite handy in the kitchen. When you just need to add a squirt of water to a dish this is very useful since you won't put too much at once. I also use it to add water to the kids' tea to cool it down.