When I dressed out the duck for Cassoulet, I cut off the breast but left the bone on. I sealed them in a vacuum pouch with herbes de provence and a bit of salt and pepper. A few days later I place them skin up in a pan and cooked for 10 minutes, then broiled the skin crispy. I sauteed shallots and then reduced with marionberries and some leftover cotes de ventoux.
We drank a youngs double chocolate stout.
As I have noted before, I hold a proper cassoulet in the most high regard. It is a religous, cultural, and moral experience. In this version I made confit of duck legs, wings, and innards in the same pot as browned lamb shanks, garlic cloves, rosemary branches, diced esplette pepper, back pepper, and lemon thyme. After 6 hours, i chilled overnight and reserved some of the fat for another use. I harvested some fresh cranberry beans from my yard and added them to the pot with a bit of water. to finish, I added sauteed whole shallots. Then I formed the crust with equal parts parm reggiano and panko plus a little epice rabelais and broiled.
We drank an 01 kestrel Syrah (WA) and a 96 Groth Cab (CA). Fantastic pairings. We were so excited to eat it, that the picture below is of the leftovers.
The salad that came first was pears, cantaloupe, mint, and rogue creamery smoky blue. We drank a 96 Alexandria muscat (OR) with that.
I sauteed some carrots with orange bell peppers and red onion in a bit of olive oil (but not too much). Then I added butter, galangal, lemongrass, ginger, cayenne, garlic, and probably some other stuff. I blended and served with some butter sauteed mushrooms with chervil.
For the quesadilla I used 3 year aged cheddar and a bit of ancho chili pepper powder with a spinach tortilla. The whole thing was a bit California but we ran with it.
We had some funky spelt flour wraps so I went with the theme and roasted some zucchini and red onions with a bunch of spices. I made a home made yogurt sauce with some tatziki seasoning that my mom picked up in Greece. A little siricha to top it off.
So I mixed black forbidden rice with brown basmati rice in a pilaf. first i added onions, butter, crimini’s, and pheasant stock. Then added the rices plus tumeric, cinnamon, raisins, and pine nuts. I served that with the sockeye that was smoked over rosemary but first dusted with curry powder.
Sockeye is my favorite salmon. It has a stronger taste and is more firm than King. I wouldn’t eat any other kinds of salmon, I don’t think. maybe coho in a pinch.
We drank a Five Star Cellars Syrah. It was a bit too plush but did show good terroir of Walla Walla. Then dessert was a Beeren Auslese. Feeling giddy…
Goulasch is another warming wintry dish. With spring lasting longer than it should this year, I decided to try to pull this one out.
I caramlized red onions, added new potatoes, then later, peppers, ground caraway, bitter pimenton, and one jalepeno. I added some buffalo demi-glace and half drunk bottle of a Washington Bourdeaux blend.
When I was a kid the solution to 4 half servings of vegetables in the fridge was stir-fry. These days it is either Pad Thai Noodles or Paella.
Sauteéd onions, then garlic, then saffron and pimentón, then rice in olive oil, added peppers, green beans, and finally shrimp.
We went with a 94 Rioja.
It was a dark and balmy afternoon. My lady wanted split pea so that’s what went down. I had some leftover pancetta in the fridge from hot german potato salad, so I fried that up, added a jalepeno and an anahiem chile and then some phaesent stock. I reduced then added the split peas. simmered for some time then added the sauteed red onions, garlic, and crimini mushroom. See, the acid should be done seperately and in bacon fat so the legumes don’t get tough. Combine once done and serve with a grilled cheese. (In this case leftover Champignon double cream from Bavaria and local whole wheat hamburger buns.)
I drank an Anderson Valley Brewing Co Winter Solstice.
