Cassoulet

Time. There just isn't enough of it in each day. Days are jam packed with errands to run, calls to make, chores to complete, kids to shuttle around, meals to cook, homework to do; It's the busy work that fills my every waking moment and leaves little time to nurture my soul. Every evening, exhaustion drags me down along with the realization that the things I wanted to do, was filled with things I had to do. I've always had trouble balancing my need to be productive with the things I really want to do. Now that the holidays are upon us, I'm going to hunker down, get back into the kitchen and feed my soul.     
This recipe reminds me that sometimes I have to clear my to do list, slow down, and make time to savor things that are just for me and take time to complete. Who cares if the laundry's not folded...like I do that anyway. 😉 This Cassoulet recipe is so wonderfully comforting with it's complex flavors of savory sausage and pork, creamy beans with a crunchy buttery breadcrumb topping. Clear your schedule and spend a day at home making this work of art!

Cassoulet

Serves 8-10
Slightly adapted recipe by Teri Appleton-Villanueva

Prep Beans
1 lb cannellini beans, rinse and clean
1 T salt

Soak beans overnight and then cook as directed with added salt.  Drain beans, reserving liquid.

Prep Sausages
2 cups water
12 ounces garlic chicken sausage
2 ounces salt pork
2 T vegetable oil
1 med celery rib
1 bay leaf
6 sprigs of thyme

Place water, sausage, salt pork and oil in a dutch oven. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a quick simmer; cook until water evaporates.Transfer salt pork to cutting board and cool slightly. Meanwhile continue to brown sausages. With kitchen twine, tie together celery, bay leaf, thyme and salt pork together and set aside. When sausages have browned, transfer to cutting board and slice 1 inch thick. Set aside. Do NOT wash dutch oven.

Cook Aromatics
Vegetable oil as needed
12 oz pork shoulder, cut into 1" chunks
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 med carrot, peeled, 1/4 inch dice
2 med cloves garlic, minced
1 T tomato paste

Add oil, if necessary, and pork to the now empty dutch oven and brown pork on all sides. Add onion and carrots, cook, stirring until onion is translucent. Add garlic and tomato paste and cook stirring, 30 seconds. 

Deglaze
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 diced Roma tomatoes
2 to 4 cups chicken stock
fine sea salt and black pepper
Immediately deglaze with wine. Bring to a boil, stir in tomatoes, celery/salt pork bundle, sausages, stock and drained beans. Add some reserved bean liquid enough to cover beans. Simmer soup for about an hour. Skim fat. Remove celery/salt pork bundle and discard. Season with salt and pepper. 

Variation: I like this soup to be thick, so blending about half of the soup makes it thick and chunky. Let the soup cool a bit before blending. Working in batches, pulse the soup in a blender to break up the ingredients into small pieces. Return it to the dutch oven. 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and make the breadcrumb topping below.

Gratinee (Brown Top)
1/4 cup packed parsley leaves
3 T unsalted butter, melted
3 large slices high quality white bread
fine sea salt and pepper

Pulse parsley in food processor until minced Transfer to a bowl, wipe out processor. Pulse bread into crumbs. transfer to parsley bowl and drizzle with butter and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.  Top soup with Gratinee and then bake until topping is golden brown about 30 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Other recipes to try:

Tortilla Dressing

Parmesan Creamed Onions

Creamed Corn Casserole

Hatch Chile and Beef Chorizo Chili

October has finally arrived and that means comfort foods. I realize fall in Southern California isn't as obvious as the brilliant fall colors of the northeast. Southern California fall is definitely more subtle. The temps still hang in the upper 80's and even 90's on some days, but you need to look around to really see fall outside of the blinding high temps. Fall is in the sun that doesn't hang as high. It's in the long shadows below the trees. It's in the shorter days and chilly mornings. Our trees really don't drop their leaves until December and January, but if you look real hard, you'll see a few early leaves working hard to give us bursts of yellows, reds, and oranges. These little signs of fall speak to this Socal girl and inspires me to slow braise meats, bake bread, and make soup... or in this case chili. This Hatch Chile and Beef Chorizo Chili is spicy and comforting and perfect for a cool or warm-ish fall evening. Enjoy!
 

Hatch Chile and Beef Chorizo Chili

Serves 12

3 lbs. lean ground beef
2 tubes beef chorizo
2 yellow onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups Trader Joe's Roasted Hatch Chiles®, chopped
3/4 cup roasted red bell peppers, chopped
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
3 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp Penzey's® Epazote
3 14 oz. cans S & W® Black Chili Beans
2 14 oz. cans S & W® Regular Chili Beans
salt and pepper
Green onions, sliced (garnish)

Brown ground beef and drain the fat. Add chorizo, onions, hatch chiles, roasted red peppers, garlic tomatoes, tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, epazote and beans. Simmer on low for a minimum of 1 hour. The longer it cooks the better. I placed it in a Slow Cooker on low for 4 hours and it was incredible. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with sour cream and sliced green onions.

Other soups to try:

White Bean, Sausage and Kale Soup

Rustic Minestrone

Pork Verde and Hominy Stew 

Eye of Newt Stew (Black-eyed Pea Curry)

Yay! The kids are back in school and it's time to get back into the kitchen and create more Halloween dishes. I made this Black-eyed Pea Curry back in July as a backdrop for my Rattlesnake Rolls and it was absolutely delicious. But when it comes to it being Halloween food all by itself, it was a little too normal looking...See?  An incredibly comforting and spicy fall dish, but certainly not creepy enough for Halloween.

So, I gave it another go by blending up all the onions, tomatillos, peppers and spices and then adding some black food coloring to really "yuck" it up. I'd say the black food coloring did its job. So much so, that it was extremely hard to photograph this Eye of Newt Stew and make it look at all edible. Once it sits in a large bubbling cauldron for a few moments, all the ingredients turn the most gruesome shades of black and grey! Even the ham turns a murky muddy black, which is absolutely perfect for a fun Halloween meal or your next Halloween party. The longer it sits, the better it looks and tastes. For sure, your friends and family will be reluctant to take a bite, but once they do, they'll come back for more!

Feel free to adjust the spice level. I like spicy and this recipe has some heat, so if you don't want it hot, substitute the Hatch chilies with mild Pasilla Chiles and roast them along with your tomatillos and onions. Happy Halloween!

Eye of Newt Stew (Black-eyed Pea Curry)

Serves 8

1 lb black-eyed peas
1 ham hock
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 lb tomatillos
2 medium yellow onions, quartered
1 1/2 cups Trader Joe's Hatch Chiles®, roasted and chopped (or 2 large Pasilla chiles)
black food coloring
2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp garam masala
2 t cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp chili powder
2-3 T honey 
1/4 cup cream
1 cup ham, chopped
salt and pepper (to taste) 

Prep beans
Soak beans overnight in salted water. Drain soaking water from beans and add beans to a slow cooker. Add enough fresh water to cover beans with about two inches of water above the beans. Add ham hocks and garlic to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for about 5-6 hours. Begin checking for doneness (Is that a word?) at 4.5 hours. Once done, remove ham hocks and chop meat from the bone. Reserve 1-2 cups if the slow cooker liquid and drain beans.

Prep Vegetables
Peel, wash and cut tomatillos in half and place on a foil lined cookie sheet. Quarter onions and add to cookie sheet. If you are substituting the Hatch chiles for Pasilla chiles, cut chiles in half, remove seeds and stems and add to cookie sheet. Broil on high until veggies are browned. Remove from oven and let cool.

Add cooked onions, tomatillos, chiles into a food processor or blender and add, cilantro, garam masala, cumin, coriander and chili powder and process until blended. Transfer into a dutch oven and add chicken broth, 1 cup of reserved crock pot liquid, and cream and honey. Heat to a slow simmer.

To make it a Eye of Newt Stew Halloween dish, add black food coloring at this point and then continue below. 

Add chopped ham from the ham hocks, black-eyed peas and additional chopped ham to the pot. Simmer 30 minutes or longer. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.  

NOTE: In the photo below, I added some black-eyed peas and chopped ham right before shooting it so they didn't change color. I wanted to show at least some recognizable ingredients in the photos. Happy Halloween!

Other Halloween dishes to try:

Top 10 Horror 'doeuvres