A Life Well Seasoned: January 2015

This last Sunday, there was a recipe for Cassoulet de Carcassonne in the Sunday Magazine of the Seattle Times (here's a link).

Huge, I mean HUGE, serving of lusciousness

Cassoulet in three hours. Right... But, I since made duck leg confit a few weeks ago, and it's just hanging around, let's do this. I mean, how convenient is that to just happen to have a couple of homemade duck legs, confit? Score!

As Published, serves 4-6	As Made, serves, well, more than two, even though we halved the recipe, really…
One day ahead:	All on same day:
1. Cover 1½ pounds of dry white beans with cold water and soak for one hour. (Cannellini work well. Paris Eastside carries traditional French Tarbais beans.) Drain and reserve.	One 15 ounce can of Great Northern Beans, rinsed. We use Simple Truth Organic – unlike other brands of canned beans I’ve opened over the years, this brand provides firm beans that will hold up in further cooking, not mushy ones that disintegrate with a few stirs of the pot.
2. Make the broth. You will need 3 to 5 ounces of cured bacon; 2 smashed garlic cloves; 1 onion quartered, and several large pieces of pork skin cut into strips. (Find pork skin at Uwajimaya or ask your butcher. You will need enough to cover the bottom of the cast iron cocotte or Dutch oven you will use for the cassoulet. This prevents the beans from scorching.) Place all the ingredients in a large pot. Add salt, pepper and 12 cups of water. Simmer very low, partially covered for two hours. Refrigerate until needed.	2 ounces bacon, homemade, of course 1 smashed clove garlic 2 quarters of onion with skin 2 bay leaves small stalk celery with leaves, halved small carrot, peeled, halved Frankly, pork skin is not needed. Yes, in the broth, it will release gelatin and make for a luxurious sauce. Lining the bottom of the pot? Not needed when you bake. Stove top? Probably, but not needed in the oven.
To make the cassoulet:
3 tablespoons tomato paste	2 tablespoons
4 pieces duck confit (scrape off most of the fat and reserve)	2 confit duck legs, homemade, of course
3 bratwurst or other garlicky sausage	2 fresh Kielbasa links, from Skagit River Ranch
2 pounds pork shoulder or pork butt (boneless country-style pork ribs sold in supermarkets are conveniently cut)	1 pound pork shoulder cut into strips
5 garlic cloves	5 garlic cloves, plus about ½ cup diced carrot and ½ cup diced onion.
Kosher salt, white or black pepper, grated nutmeg to taste	OK, pretty much, no problem here...
1. Strain the stock into a large pot, reserving the pork skin. Add tomato paste and pre-soaked beans. Cook 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the kind of beans. They should remain whole and slightly firm, as they will continue to cook in the oven.	Warmed the canned beans in the stock with the tomato paste.
2. While the beans cook, place the confit in a skillet and sear on all sides. Next, sear the sausages in the duck fat, then the pork, then the garlic cloves. Spoon off and reserve any excess fat in a small bowl as you go, or add more if needed. Use a spatula and a wooden spoon to turn and lift the meats, instead of tongs, which can break the skin.	Seared all the meats in duck fat and didn’t worry about extra duck fat. In fact, I poured extra in for the browning step. Really. Also, sautéed the extra onion and carrot when I sautéed the garlic (see above). More veg is good. And unlike the French, I can eat sautéed veg in a sauce. (Carefully drained off all the extra Duck fat before adding the veg back to the bean/stock mix.)
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover the bottom of a cast iron cocotte or Dutch oven with the pork skins placed fat side down. Using a slotted spoon, transfer about one-third of the beans to the pot to cover the skins. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Arrange the pork on top of the beans. Place the duck on top of the pork. Scatter the garlic. Cover the meats with the remaining beans. Add enough stock to just cover the beans. Place the sausages on top, pushing them gently to slightly submerge. Add more salt, pepper and nutmeg. Bake uncovered for 1½ hours. As it cooks, a thin crust will form. Press gently with a wooden spoon occasionally to break the crust. Add stock if the cassoulet seems too dry.	Arranged the meats in the pot, poured the beans and stock with veg over the meats, and baked. Just before we decided “it was done,” Dorothy added buttered bread crumbs on top, and let them get golden. Yes, Panko.
4. To serve, portion the beans and meats on plates.	Pretty much the same - it is a large portion if you give each bowl some of each meat, including a whole leg. And yes, you do have to serve a whole leg. Really.

We served the cassoulet over sautéed Collard greens. They were hit with a bit of lemon juice just before the cassoulet was spooned over them.

Nice easy dinner.

Beans and tomato paste warming in the stock

Homemade duck legs confit searing off in the sauté pan

Crusty crumbs on top, cassoulet ready to serve

The end of the year brings too many events all at once. It's a busy time, to be sure.

First there's Thanksgiving and we're up to our elbows in turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, leek and sweet potato gratin, green beans (or was it Brussels sprouts?), and of course a pie. Or two.

Then there's the 30-40 people for the Christmas Ships Open House (and we cook a ham and a mac & cheese, others bring all sorts of good stuff). Then it's almost Christmas and Dorothy is baking five different kinds of cookies.

And then Christmas dinner.

This year we went with a Crown Roast of Pork from Better Meat. Dinner starts with oysters with a Meyer lemon mignonette, moves on to Pork with a sauce/syrup made from apple juice, served with green beans with mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and of course, stuffing. And Dorothy made a Yule Log cake.

Those damned oysters. See, it's traditional at our table to have oysters at Christmas and New Year's. And Dorothy has steadfastly resisted learning to shuck. And the oysters we get from Hama Hama Oyster Company are thick-shelled tight little buggers. They are the beach finished Hama Hamas. And I get all stressed out (wah-wah, I hear you).

I'm beat. Too much! Agh!

OK, take a deep breath. At least I didn't have to cook New Year's too. As a gift to Dorothy, we went to Lummi Island for the New Year's Eve dinner at Willows Inn and enjoyed the incredible bites that Chef Blain Wetzel and his crew (hi Nick and Wes!) put together. Of course, someone didn't make it to midnight in spite of the band playing for dancing after dinner, right under our room. Someone who will remain nameless.

But this post is about the Crown Roast of Pork. I've never done one before, and thought it was time.

Roast is out of the oven. Yum!

I looked at about a dozen different recipes and confirmed my plan would be just fine:

350°F Oven
Salt and Pepper on the roast
Aluminum foil wrapped around the bones that stick out of the top of the roast - to protect them from burning
Stuffing not placed in the center of roast while the roast is cooking - for the same reason I don't stuff a turkey (to get the stuffing at the center cooked, you overcook the turkey)

Into the oven for about 3 hours, turning it around in the oven at least once (start checking internal temperature at 2 hours, then again every 30 minutes). For the last 30 minutes, remove the foil (that's about when the internal temperature reaches 125-130°F). The roast is done when the internal temperature is 140-145°F. Remove roast from oven, tent with foil, and let rest for 20-30 minutes before cutting. And please, get yourself a digital probe thermometer and use it.

And yes, 140-145°F sounds kind of low per USDA recommendations. But a funny thing happens when the roast rests. The internal temperature keeps rising. This is because the outside of the roast is hotter than the inside of the roast (the outermost layer may be 170-180°F or more, we're talking about that outside ¹⁄₈ to ¹⁄₄-inch, and the surface will be between 250-325°F - which is why it's browning and crispy), and that heat keeps seeping toward the center. The center of the roast will keep rising in temperature until about the time the entire roast equalizes in temperature, then it starts to cool - outside first. Of course. And no one has had trichinosis with commercial pork since the 1970s. Get over it. Final result will be somewhere between 150-160°F, and perfect if it hits 155°F.

During the resting period, the stuffing goes into the oven (recipe follows) and the apple glaze is finished (recipe follows).

See how simple it is? And it looks like crazy good, and your guests will think you're a brilliant chef.

Of course, you still have the green beans and mushrooms to do (sliced mushrooms sautéed in butter until leathery, then sprinkled with salt and drained on a paper towel, then sliced vertically into five slices; beans cut into 1-inch pieces, blanched in boiling salted water and then chilled in ice water until near serving time, then reheated with the mushrooms with a nice nub of butter); the mashed potatoes; the sweet potato leek gratin; the pies; the f-ing oyster shucking; the mignonette... You see why I'm exhausted? Agh! AND SO MUCH BUTTER!

Stuffing

1 loaf Macrina Bakery Guiseppe (1¹⁄₄ pounds) cut into ³⁄₄-inch cubes¹
1 pound sweet Italian bulk sausage (if in links, remove the casing and discard)
1 smallish yellow onion, chopped into ¹⁄₄-inch dice
2 smallish or 1 large carrot, peeled then chopped into ¹⁄₄-inch dice
2 stalks celery, chopped into ¹⁄₄-inch dice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 apples, skin on, cored, cut into ¹⁄₂-inch cubes
about a dozen fresh sage leaves, chopped fine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1-2 cups low salt chicken broth (I make my own, of course I do)
salt and pepper to taste.

Brown the sausage in a large skillet. When the sausage is browned (and there isn't even a hint of pink anywhere, and it's sizzling hot like frying instead of steeping in water) add the onion, carrot, and celery, and cook until the veg is soft. Add the butter to just melt and remove from the heat. Place the bread cubes in a large bowl, pour the sausage and vegetables over the bread, and mix well. Add the apple and herbs and 1 cup of the broth, and stir. Add additional broth in small increments until you like the consistency. I like mine a bit dry so I can get crunchy edges when it cooks in the oven. Taste. Add salt and pepper, and taste again. Repeat until you like the balance.

Place in a baking dish. Cook in a 350°F oven until completely heated through, about 30 minutes.

Cider Glaze

¹⁄₂ gallon real apple juice, and just apple juice (you might know it as "cider") ²
1 medium shallot, chopped
3 sprigs fresh sage
a good cluster of fresh thyme sprigs (about 10-15 branches)
¹⁄₂ cup apple cider vinegar

In a large pot, add all the ingredients and bring to a simmer. After about 30 minutes, strain through a fine mesh strainer, and return liquid to the pot (throw out the shallot and herbs). Bring to a light boil and reduce until thickened into an almost syrup-like consistency. Think Maple Syrup (real, not artificial, the fake stuff has thickening agents - yuuck).

For serving:

Remember to remove the strings holding the crown roast together. Really. No one wants to floss at dinner. Slice a chop out. Place some of the stuffing off-center on a plate, place the chop leaning up against the stuffing, placing it on the outside of the off-center stuffing pile (and put the other side dishes on the plate too, on the other, more empty side of the plate). Spoon about 1-2 tablespoons of the glaze over the chop. Serve.

Notes:

¹The Macrina Guiseppe loaf is a crusty Italian loaf leavened with biga (traditional Italian sponge starter) and made with unbleached flour. Substitute any really fresh crusty unbleached white loaf.
²In all the world except the US, Cider is fermented apple juice. And that's what it meant in the US too, until prohibition. And during our great experiment with trying to make people not drink, the meaning of cider shifted. See, small farms were still able to sell their apple juice direct to customers at the farm, and what they sold was fresh unfiltered apple juice (and of course spontaneously fermenting juice). And it was all called Cider. After prohibition, the name Cider was kept for unfiltered apple juice and we added "hard" for the fermented stuff. Use real apple juice, that is, unfiltered apple juice with no additives (no added sugar, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, ascorbic acid, xanthum gum, etc.).