Cook My Books Challenge Three- Ole Cassoulet....?

This is the second version of this post, the first one disappeared off my laptop screen last night just as I was finishing it up………most annoying, especially as I still don’t know what I did

You may also need to forgive the pics, can I say it is quite tough to make Cassoulet look as good as it tastes, there is a lot of brown in that there pot. Duck, Pork Belly, Pork sausage and beans, this is a flavour packed dish, rich artery clogging meaty goodness, thankfully for your heart it is a treat and not for everyday…….

The book I have selected this week is Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles cookbook, based on recipes from his restaurant in New York city.  
I will be doing more than one recipe from this one as it is a fab book, and I cheated a bit on the Cassoulet. For some reason I have a mental bock when it comes to soaking legumes, so between that & neglecting to start the recipe 3 days early as instructed (?!) I ended up doing a sort of mash up of Les Halles, High Fearnly-Whittingstall & Rick Stein. This is a very traditional dish, so there will be as many interpretations as there are chefs, this is mine. I am actually pretty happy with this dish, I dont think a few short cuts have compromised flavour at all, it does take hours to make, but to be honest the actual time you spend doing anything is nothing like that much. I would not claim any degree of authenticity here, but I would claim this tastes fabulous....

Cassoulet - inspiration as above

serves 6-8 generously

First the beans....

500 gr haricot beans, soaked in cold water overnight (see below if you are forgetful like moi)
200 gr pork rind, cut into chunks
1 onion, peeled and studded with 4 cloves
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 Bouquet Garni (Bay, Thyme, & Parsley tied together in a little bunch with string)


Drain the beans, then put in a large pot with the rest of the ingredients. Cover by at least 3 cm with fresh cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 1.5-2 hours until the beans are nice & tender.
If you forget the soaking step, cover your beans with cold water, and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for a full 10 minutes, then turn the heat off & pop a lid on your pot. Leave to sit for 2 hours. The boiling gets rid of any toxins in the beans, so don't skimp on this step. Continue as above


Now the meatie bit....

2 confit duck legs (I will post how to make these later this week, or you can buy, I got mine at Sabato)
800 gr Pork Belly (I like Freedom Farms,) cut into chunks
6 good meaty pork sausages (I get mine at the fabulous Ellerslie Meats)
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled & chopped
1 small tin of crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
salt & pepper

Ok, first you need to brown your meats. Take 2 tbsp of the fat from around your duck legs, and melt over a medium heat. Brown your duck legs on both side, and set aside. A bit of fat will come out of your duck, dont freak out, it is that kind of dish.
Now brown the pork belly, the skin will spit and crackle, so be careful. Set aside with the duck, and add the sausages to the pan. Brown on all sides and cut into chunks. By now you, the cooker, the floor & probably the wall will be covered in fat, this is what happens.........
Turn the heat to low, and add the onion & garlic to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes until soft but not really browned. Add the tomato pulp and paste, along with 1/2 cup of water. Stir & simmer for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160C. When the beans are cooked, check you still have plenty of liquid in the pan. I dont think I had enough, I would aim for at least a cm over the level of the beans. The beans will soak up a lot more liquid in the oven. Stir through the tomato mixture, and check your seasoning, remember the duck has a bit of salt, but dont under season.

Layer the meat & beans, starting and finishing with beans. An earthenware pot in traditional, I use my Le Creuset which works perfectly. Now you could sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs, I didn't have any so relied on the beans to form their own crust. Apparently this would be the subject of hot debate in France, my audience didn't know the difference so it was fine!
Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours until crusty, bubbly, meaty & gorgeous. You are the déesse domestique....

I served my Cassoulet with this potato dish, (in for a penny as they say....) One of my sisters does not eat red meat, so she made a rather divine salad Nicoise to go with dinner, I think my arteries were saying thanks. A green salad would also be perfect, sharp with a mustard dressing.

I also made this tangy Rhubarb Creaming Soda syrup to use with my soda stream , thanks to Good Food in a Crap Kitchen, delicious, and so pretty.

I will be posting further recipes from Les Halles, it is a useful, well designed book, I like Anthony Bourdain's straight talking style, the recipes are relatively simple to use and the format is clear & easy to read. Probably not one for vegetarians however.

Les Halles Cookbook
Anthony Bourdain
Bloomsbury 2004

Favourite biscuits and a rugby treat.........

After a glorious mild Spring day, we are back to rain & wind, perfect baking weather. So I thought I would make an old favourite of mine. Not the most glam treat for sure, these don't have the classic appeal of a macaron , or the flash of a whoopie pie, but they can be whipped up in no time, and with no nervous breakdown involved....
Great tin fillers, sweet, spicy & full of fruit,  I have used cranberries & sultanas in this version, but raisins, current or mixed fruit would also be fine. Mum used to make these for our "playlunch" (morning tea) when we were kids, they are super easy to make, sturdy, stay fresh for days & one batch makes approx 25 biscuits, an important consideration in a family of seven!
I think the recipe may have come from the NZ Woman's Weekly, it was written on a bit of paper, then years ago transferred into my recipe book, so became Mum's Fruit Drop Biscuits.

Mum's Fruit Drop Biscuits

2 cups/300 gr plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
175 gr butter, at room temperature
1 cup/200 gr brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sultanas/mixed fruit/cranberries or raisins

Pre heat the oven to 180C/350F

Sift together the flour, salt, soda & spices. Meanwhile beat together your butter & brown sugar, until pale & fluffy. I use a Kitchen Aid, but a handheld beater or a wooden spoon would also work. Add the eggs one at a time until they are well mixed in, then add the vanilla.
Stir in the flour mixture, then the dried fruit, I use a wooden spoon for this.
Cover and put into the fridge for 20-30 minutes so the mixture firms up.
Put teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking tray and cook for 12-15 minutes, they will spread slightly, and should be pale gold. The kitchen will smell wonderful. Cool on wire racks then fill your tins (sorry, but I just love that phrase, makes me feel so competant....)

For those of you reading this outside of New Zealand, the Rugby World Cup is currently being held here, and the country has gone Rugby Obsessive (even more so than usual). In a spectacular piece of blagging we managed to get tickets to a Corporate Box for the Opening Ceremony on Friday at Eden Park, and what a show it was! Completely fabulous, I am now ruined for the cheap seats forever. This is very unfortunate as we have brought tickets for the Semi-finals (the cheapest ones possible. They are so high up in the stands I fully expect to be given an oxygen mask & parachute on arrival) Oh well, it was nice to see how the other half lives for once, and I got to meet Tana Umaga, who is totally charming and didn't seem to mind watching the first half of the game sitting next to me instead of someone knowledgeable.....

I stopped scoffing the free food & booze long enough to take a picture, what a view!

I went to the cinema last night for my friend Yummy Mummy's birthday, sadly I was allowed to select the film, and boy did I get it WRONG!  The Priest in 3D, I am praying you don't make the same mistake & fork out $20 for this load of tripe.
I was seduced by the thought of the delicious Paul Bettany in 3D, but even a gratuitous naked ab shot was not enough to make it worthwhile. The highlight was probably me jumping two foot in my seat & spraying popcorn all over myself. It  really itches when it goes down your top. The guy next to me was at least trying not to laugh too loudly, unlike madam next to me.....

Snowballs in Spring.....

How cute is a cupcake? I know, every man & his canine are doing them, but they are a lovely alternative to a birthday cake, and provide a higher icing to cake ratio than a normal slice (ok, I am not sure this has actually been scientifically proven, but should NASA ever take on the job I am sure that would be the finding...)

I recently catered a friends parents joint 80th birthday party, and thought snowball cupcakes would be the perfect sweet finale. They look fab, and are easy to make with a hand held beater. A vanilla cupcake laced with lemon zest, containing a teaspoonful of tangy lemon curd, topped with sweet marshmallow frosting and coconut, I want one of these on my 80th birthday please.......with champagne thanks.

Snowballs (recipe adapted from "Cupcakes!" by Elinor Klivans)

Vanilla Lemon Cupcakes (makes 24 normal sized cupcakes)

2 1/2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

2 cups sugar (yep, these are sweet little cakes!)

1 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla paste (or extract)

grated zest of a lemon

1 cup sour cream

Pre heat the oven to 180C

Sift the flour, baking powder, soda & salt together into a bowl.

In a large bowl eggs and sugar together until pale & thick (I use my Kitchen Aid but a hand held beater would be fine) With the beater on low add the oil, vanilla and lemon zest, beating until well mixed. Add the sour cream and mix in. Add the flour mixture and beat gently again until all the flour is combined. Pour into 24 lined cupcake cases, filling about 3/4 full, then bake for about 20 mins, until they are pale golden and a skewer poked into the middle of a cake comes out clean.

Cool, then scoop out a tsp of the cake crumb, and fill with a tsp of lemon curd (passionfruit or lime curd is also perfect here, you need something with a tang to counter all that sweet) and top with the following frosting, and a sprinkle of coconut.

Marshmallow frosting

3/4 cup of sugar

1/4 cup water

2 egg whites

pinch of cream of tarter

1/2 tsp vanilla paste (or extract)

Put the sugar, water, egg white and cream of tarter in a heatproof bowl over  a saucepan of barely simmering water. Don't let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. Using an electric beater, beat the mixture together until it forms a fluffy thick white frosting, this takes about 5-7 minutes. Remove from over the water, add the vanilla and beat for another couple of minutes, where it will further thicken and cool. Swirl all over your cupcakes in generous swirls (cupcake icing is no time for restraint......) and top with the coconut. Hose down yourself and the kitchen, which will somehow have managed to acquire sticky frosting and coconut all over it..........or maybe that's just me?

I also made sticky honey soy chicken wings, zucchini muffins with smoked salmon (recipe here), chicken and walnut mayo sandwiches, ham and brie sandwiches and hummus...........

oh and of course, sausage rolls! I make mine using my butchers best pork bangers, skinned and mixed with onion, seasoning and fresh parsley. So simple, so retro, so good.

All of the pics above were taken by my lovely friend Briar. Not only can she operate a camera with more confusing buttons and knobs than a space shuttle, she fits in photography around being a clever clogs lawyer and mum to a gorgeous little girl, cooking and  having a better garden than mine. Oh and she is great fun too.

I know, overachieving tart.....

Speaking of gardens, I thought I would share with you my latest garden disaster, in case you are having a rough day and would like to feel superior. Please admire my sad little courgette plant, after a dawn raid by the local snail community............I tried in vain to cox it back to health but the little buggers had eaten all the fresh growth.....my revenge was a liberal does of Quash, firmly shutting the gate as the horse gallops down the road..........

I was chatting to one of my sisters this morning, she lives in Kerikeri, far north of Auckland, where they get more sun and hence an earlier start on Spring crops. She had been talking on the phone to our Mother (whose garden at the moment is quite spectacular, Ma's fingers are green to the bone, what happened to me is still a mystery) and commented her radishes had grown really well. Mum paused for a second then responded "well anyone who cant grow radishes cant grow anything". They get sun in Northland, but also the odd shower of rain on parades...........

You might have noticed I have had a wee break from my blog. It has been a funny few weeks, I have changed jobs, had some rather worrying news and attempted a "staycation", a holiday at home. This was not exactly a success, instead of coming back from a beach in Fiji relaxed and slightly pink (my version of a holiday tan....),  I have a very clean house (even the windows!), and a desire to book a beach break imminently...........actually we are off to Sydney to visit another sister in January so I can look forward to that.
In the meantime I will sit in the sun with my book, finished Vanda Symon's Overkill, great book, am now attempting a Lee Child thriller, not usually my scene but he seems very popular so will give it a go........

Supperclub-Midwinter Celebration

Plum Kitchen is hosting a celebration of winter! I will bring a delicious 4 course meal, a roaring fire, relaxed atmosphere and a beautiful table to the party, you need only bring yourself, some interesting conversation, and a bottle of something delicious to enjoy with dinner.

Date: Saturday 24th July 7pm
Location: A dining room in Auckland, you will find out exactly where after you book......

Suggested donation $50 to cover costs
BYO

To book email plumkitchen@hotmail.co.nz

Places are limited. I will confirm your booking a couple of days prior to the event, and provide you with details of where you will be dining. Please let me know when booking if you are vegetarian.

Looking forward to meeting you!

Plum x

P.S If you want to find out more about supperclubs, please read here

PPS If you would like to read about The French House (a Wellington supperclub) and Plum Kitchen in the Sunday Star Times, please read here