I love big hearty dishes at this time of year and simple one-pot ones are the business. I have had Cassoulet a few times in Carcassonne and I love it, I call it "proper food". My version is my attempt to re-create the original.
I have made duck legs Confit a few times but it you don't have any, use chicken thighs. To Confit duck legs, sprinkle sea salt over them and some fresh thyme and leave overnight somewhere cool. Next day rinse off the excess salt and place in a casserole. Cover with duck or pork fat and place in oven for about 4 hours at a low heat.
To use chicken thighs, season and rub with some rape seed oil, Sear them on a hot pan until browned all over.
If using pork belly it needs a bit of cooking first, so roast in a hot oven for half an hour and turn down and cook for at least another half an hour. This can be done in advance while you are using the oven for something else. Alternately just use some pork gigot chops seared on a pan same as for chicken.
Brown the sausages and when cool cut into chunks.
While the meat above is cooking prepare the rest of the dish.
Ingredients
1 onion finely chopped
1 stick celery finely sliced
1 carrot chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
About quarter of a butternut squash cut into chunks
4-5 good quality thick sausages (browned and cooked)
Strip of pork belly cut into bite sized chunks
4 chicken thighs or confit duck legs
2 tins of cannellini or haricot beans or a bean mix
Fresh thyme and sage
Good quality chicken or beef stock
A good glug of white wine
A squeeze of tomato puree or about half a tin of chopped tomatoes
Saute the vegetables in some rape seed oil. Transfer to a casserole dish. Add in the meats and the beans, the stock, puree, wine, herbs and season. Simmer the cassoulet for about an hour in a low oven or on the hob until the vegetables are soft and it has become almost creamy looking. About 20 minutes before you want to serve it add in the chunks of butternut squash.
Serve with crusty bread and a good hearty red wine and enjoy!
Tip - I cook beans in a pressure cooker and freeze for use later. I also cook double the meat and freeze half for use in another cassoulet and then when you are in a hurry you can prepare the dish in the time it takes to chop and saute the vegetables.
Cassoulet Duck Confit Carcassonne Food Hearty Stew Recipes
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Marmalade Time
It's that time of year again when the Seville oranges appear in the fruit and veg shops all around the country. The oranges are smaller, more irregular, sometimes blotchy green, thick skinned and not as shiny as the oranges we peel and eat. They are also unbelievably bitter but they make the most tart, zingy marmalade you can imagine. To be honest, I hate making marmalade but I love it: so every year at this time, I get on the phone to my mother to get me some oranges. It's still difficult to get the oranges around here and she is usually getting some for herself anyway. This year I have some in my freezer left over from last year. You can freeze them and to be honest I have never noticed any difference in using frozen from fresh.
I have tried every type and available recipe over the years but the one I have settled on, with my modifications is Delia Smith's recipe for a long slow-cooked marmalade but I shorten the process as I don't like the colour too dark. I also omit a lot of the peel as I prefer jelly to lumpy bits. But, the beauty of any recipe is, as long as you don't interfere too much with the underlying principles then you can tailor it to your own taste.
Her recipe is spread out over two days but I condense it into one as it is a palavar and I always want to get it over and done with. But - the biggest bonus of all is making a marmalade cake with the left overs which won't quite fill your last jar. This is the best cake ever and if you don't believe me then try it and let me know how you get on.
Delia Smith's (modified by me) recipe
1.35kg Seville marmalade oranges
2 lemons
5 pints of water (I use less as I can't fit that much in my pot)
2.7kg granulated sugar (I also use less usually 2kg of sugar to this quantity)
You need a preserving pan and some muslin. First off you wash the fruit and put in your pan with the water and bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer, cover and leave the oranges to poach for about 3 hours or until they are soft.
Simmering the oranges to soften
Scoop the fruit out and allow to cool. When cool, cut the oranges in half and scoop out the flesh and pips and place in a pan. Add some of your poaching liquid and simmer for 10 minutes. When cooled strain the contents of the saucepan into a sieve lined with muslin. Allow to drip through and then when it is cool enough to handle catch it and wring it squeezing all the juice and liquid out. Do this with a pair of gloves as it is very acidic and burns your hands. It is also very therapeutic and you can imagine you are wringing someone's neck - bit like kneading bread! You should be left with just spent pulp in your muslin which you can put in your compost heap.
Straining the pulp through muslin
Next slice up your skin for your "bits" the size and quantity is to your taste. Add these slices into your poaching liquid and the stuff you squeezed out of the muslin. Delia says to leave this overnight, but I just crack on.
Put the pot on a low heat and gradually bring up to just below boiling point and start to add your sugar. Add your sugar gradually, stirring to dissolve. Then when you are sure it has all dissolved bring to a rapid, rolling boil and set your timer. This is the difficult bit. After 15-20 minutes you need to test for a set. Have a few saucers in the fridge chilling. When you are testing turn the heat off under the pan as it is very easy to overshoot "setting point" and you will have to go for a "second set". Spoon out a tablespoon of your marmalade onto a chilled saucer and put in the fridge for a few minutes. Remove and run your finger through it - if it wrinkles then it is set, if not put heat on and re-test in another 5 minutes. I have to say there is no fast way to do this and you just have to be patient. It can take from 15-45 minutes! Don't despair - it will set eventually. Alternately use a thermometer but this just gives you an idea when the setting point is close and marmalade takes it's own time.
Setting point is 105C
When it is set, remove from the heat and leave to stand for 15 minutes, then fill hot, sterilised jars. See my post on jam making for other hints.
To make the marmalade cake use a basic Victoria sponge recipe and add a couple of tablespoons of marmalade. Believe me it is really, really good.
Marmalade Delia Smith Seville Oranges Marmalade Cake
I have tried every type and available recipe over the years but the one I have settled on, with my modifications is Delia Smith's recipe for a long slow-cooked marmalade but I shorten the process as I don't like the colour too dark. I also omit a lot of the peel as I prefer jelly to lumpy bits. But, the beauty of any recipe is, as long as you don't interfere too much with the underlying principles then you can tailor it to your own taste.
Her recipe is spread out over two days but I condense it into one as it is a palavar and I always want to get it over and done with. But - the biggest bonus of all is making a marmalade cake with the left overs which won't quite fill your last jar. This is the best cake ever and if you don't believe me then try it and let me know how you get on.
Delia Smith's (modified by me) recipe
1.35kg Seville marmalade oranges
2 lemons
5 pints of water (I use less as I can't fit that much in my pot)
2.7kg granulated sugar (I also use less usually 2kg of sugar to this quantity)
You need a preserving pan and some muslin. First off you wash the fruit and put in your pan with the water and bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer, cover and leave the oranges to poach for about 3 hours or until they are soft.
Scoop the fruit out and allow to cool. When cool, cut the oranges in half and scoop out the flesh and pips and place in a pan. Add some of your poaching liquid and simmer for 10 minutes. When cooled strain the contents of the saucepan into a sieve lined with muslin. Allow to drip through and then when it is cool enough to handle catch it and wring it squeezing all the juice and liquid out. Do this with a pair of gloves as it is very acidic and burns your hands. It is also very therapeutic and you can imagine you are wringing someone's neck - bit like kneading bread! You should be left with just spent pulp in your muslin which you can put in your compost heap.
Next slice up your skin for your "bits" the size and quantity is to your taste. Add these slices into your poaching liquid and the stuff you squeezed out of the muslin. Delia says to leave this overnight, but I just crack on.
Put the pot on a low heat and gradually bring up to just below boiling point and start to add your sugar. Add your sugar gradually, stirring to dissolve. Then when you are sure it has all dissolved bring to a rapid, rolling boil and set your timer. This is the difficult bit. After 15-20 minutes you need to test for a set. Have a few saucers in the fridge chilling. When you are testing turn the heat off under the pan as it is very easy to overshoot "setting point" and you will have to go for a "second set". Spoon out a tablespoon of your marmalade onto a chilled saucer and put in the fridge for a few minutes. Remove and run your finger through it - if it wrinkles then it is set, if not put heat on and re-test in another 5 minutes. I have to say there is no fast way to do this and you just have to be patient. It can take from 15-45 minutes! Don't despair - it will set eventually. Alternately use a thermometer but this just gives you an idea when the setting point is close and marmalade takes it's own time.
When it is set, remove from the heat and leave to stand for 15 minutes, then fill hot, sterilised jars. See my post on jam making for other hints.
To make the marmalade cake use a basic Victoria sponge recipe and add a couple of tablespoons of marmalade. Believe me it is really, really good.
Marmalade Delia Smith Seville Oranges Marmalade Cake
Thursday, 12 January 2012
The French Bakery
I managed a French artisan bakery up until it went out of business due to the recession almost 3 years ago now. To say it was artisan is almost an understatement. Everything, and I mean everything was made from scratch and the viennoiserie (croissants and danish) were better than anything you could get in this country and to be fair, on a level with what you could get in France. We had a team of French pastry chefs and bakers and they were a real eye-opener as well. In my naivety I thought it was the Irish who had the reputation for being the alcoholics of Europe - that was until I met the French. I would say that 70% plus of our staff had a drink problem. However, that is a novel for another time!
We used very expensive ingredients including French flour, primarily Farine de Ble type 65 (wheat flour), but also siegle (rye). We used all unsalted butter, whole eggs, cream and Belgian chocolate. This, in addition to all products being handmade including the croissants, rolled by hand, made the product very expensive. Obviously in the downturn many business cut back on their expensive supplies. We had problems with customers dragging their heels paying up and this in turn led us to not be able to pay our suppliers. Every month was a nightmare, towards the end, trying to negotiate cheques from our accounts office in order to release supplies from suppliers who had our account on hold. I had to continually juggle and also shop around for better prices which ended up taking up so much time, it began to take up a large part of everyday.
We operated 3 separate sections, bread, viennoiserie and dessert. Breads included baguettes, Bretonne baguette, country bread, boule, couronne and brioche. Viennoiserie was croissant, almond croissant, pain au chocolate, pain au raisin, fruit etoile, torsade and apple chausson. Desserts were fresh fruit tarts with creme patissiere, lemon tart, chocolate tart, cheesecakes, mousses including feuillantine chocolate, opera, profiteroles (piece montee) and nicest of all La Religieuse. And this list is only a fraction of what I can remember.
We supplied primarily Dublins' - 4 and 5 star hotels. Some of the executive head chefs were the bain of my life but some were really great to work with as we often made desserts to order. We also supplied cafes, restaurants and coffee shops. Our delivery vans were on the road before 4am and most deliveries were completed by 10am. The bakery operated 24/7 and we had 3 different shifts. If I had occasion to go in at night to check something, it was like a whole other world. A bright hive of activity with the most amazing smells wafting out. There is nothing like the taste of a freshly glazed pain au raisin or a crusty baguette.
When I travel now to France, which is several times a year lately, I still compare bakery goods with "ours" and very often they fail to live up to standards; as even in France they have started to cut back on the quality ingredients (butter in particular). I can always taste the difference in croissant. But sometimes you find a small bakery in a town that produces the same sort of amazing tastes we did. And that is heaven and something the French really excel at.
One day I hope to sit down and write in more detail about the experience of managing the bakery and dealing with the French because, when I used to tell friends the stories, they all said you really should write a book. The only problem is people reading it would think I had made it up!
We used very expensive ingredients including French flour, primarily Farine de Ble type 65 (wheat flour), but also siegle (rye). We used all unsalted butter, whole eggs, cream and Belgian chocolate. This, in addition to all products being handmade including the croissants, rolled by hand, made the product very expensive. Obviously in the downturn many business cut back on their expensive supplies. We had problems with customers dragging their heels paying up and this in turn led us to not be able to pay our suppliers. Every month was a nightmare, towards the end, trying to negotiate cheques from our accounts office in order to release supplies from suppliers who had our account on hold. I had to continually juggle and also shop around for better prices which ended up taking up so much time, it began to take up a large part of everyday.
We operated 3 separate sections, bread, viennoiserie and dessert. Breads included baguettes, Bretonne baguette, country bread, boule, couronne and brioche. Viennoiserie was croissant, almond croissant, pain au chocolate, pain au raisin, fruit etoile, torsade and apple chausson. Desserts were fresh fruit tarts with creme patissiere, lemon tart, chocolate tart, cheesecakes, mousses including feuillantine chocolate, opera, profiteroles (piece montee) and nicest of all La Religieuse. And this list is only a fraction of what I can remember.
We supplied primarily Dublins' - 4 and 5 star hotels. Some of the executive head chefs were the bain of my life but some were really great to work with as we often made desserts to order. We also supplied cafes, restaurants and coffee shops. Our delivery vans were on the road before 4am and most deliveries were completed by 10am. The bakery operated 24/7 and we had 3 different shifts. If I had occasion to go in at night to check something, it was like a whole other world. A bright hive of activity with the most amazing smells wafting out. There is nothing like the taste of a freshly glazed pain au raisin or a crusty baguette.
When I travel now to France, which is several times a year lately, I still compare bakery goods with "ours" and very often they fail to live up to standards; as even in France they have started to cut back on the quality ingredients (butter in particular). I can always taste the difference in croissant. But sometimes you find a small bakery in a town that produces the same sort of amazing tastes we did. And that is heaven and something the French really excel at.
One day I hope to sit down and write in more detail about the experience of managing the bakery and dealing with the French because, when I used to tell friends the stories, they all said you really should write a book. The only problem is people reading it would think I had made it up!
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