Cooking with 'The Cooking of Southwest France'

[hathor]

My confit crock is empty....woe is me. Its almost worse than running out of chicken stock....

[FoodMan]

we are having some people over for dinner on Sunday, and I was thinking of making the Basque Cake with pastry cream for dessert. I was thinking that maybe this would work as individual little cakes, baked in muffin cups and served with some fresh berries, almost like a rif on cupcakes. Will that work? any pitfalls to avoid? Or should I stick with the classic and make a big round cake and cut into wedges?

[Wolfert]

I think tart cherry jam would be great as an accompaniment. You might need more pastry to make individual portions. Otherwise, it is a great idea.

Please let me know how it turns out.

[essvee]

It is so darn cool that M. Wolfert is a participant here! I'm a big fan, my copy of Southwestern France is very splotchy and stained. My fave dish is salmis of duck legs (the three day version) with le pou.

I wasn't going to buy the new edition but I hear it's got 60 new recipes so I will. Loath that I am to give up my old copy.

Anyway, a few posts up M. Wolfert mentions buying fresh lard from German or Hungarian butchers. I live in the East Bay (Oakland) and I can recommend Latin American butchers as well. It's wonderful, readily available in Nothern California anyway and has the advantage of being very much cheaper. When I made confit du porc, I bought 2 quarts of the stuff for 4 bucks.

[essvee]

Hey, Anna N., there's a wonderful book by Madeline Kamman called When French Women Cook. There's a recipe for Pineau in there. it takes about a month but it's really worth it. Give it a try.

[Abra]

Elie, this doesn't answer the miniature aspect of your question, but just last night I saw that in American Boulangerie the recipe for Gateau Basque incorporates tart cherry jam right into the cake as a layer.

[Anna N]

Hey, Anna N., there's a wonderful book by Madeline Kamman called When French Women Cook.  There's a recipe for Pineau in there.  it takes about a month but it's really worth it.  Give it a try.

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Thanks. I will keep my eye open for the book and give it a try.

[Smithy]

I wasn't going to buy the new edition but I hear it's got 60 new recipes so I will.  Loath that I am to give up my old copy.

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Who says you have to give up the old copy? I'll be there are a lot of people around here with both versions.

[FoodMan]

I think tart cherry jam would be great as an accompaniment. You might need more pastry to make individual portions. Otherwise, it is a great idea.

Please let me know how it turns out.

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Unfortunatly things did not go as planned and due to time constraints I did not manage to make the Gateau Basque at all. Instead I had to fall back on my standard tried and true dessert...shortcakes with strawberries and ice cream. I will give this a shot in the near future though and report back how it worked out as individual portions.

On another note, the rest of the meal whose center piece was the "Roast chicken stuffed with garlic croutons" came out fantastic and juicy. The accompanying potato gratin (in a clay pot non the less) was outstanding as well.

[FoodMan]

I think tart cherry jam would be great as an accompaniment. You might need more pastry to make individual portions. Otherwise, it is a great idea.

Please let me know how it turns out.

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Unfortunatly things did not go as planned and due to time constraints I did not manage to make the Gateau Basque at all. Instead I had to fall back on my standard tried and true dessert...shortcakes with strawberries and ice cream. I will give this a shot in the near future though and report back how it worked out as individual portions.

On another note, the rest of the meal whose center piece was the "Roast chicken stuffed with garlic croutons" came out fantastic and juicy. The accompanying potato gratin (in a clay pot non the less) was outstanding as well.

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here are a couple of pics from this dinner, sorry was too busy with the guests and forgot to take more.

The chicken while cooking...this was a pain to flip it around, but with a spatula I managed

The gratin, this was sort of a hybrid between the one with blue cheese and another gratin in Paula's Slow Med. book. I did not use blue cheese because I would be the only one eating it if I did .

[little ms foodie]

gorgeous gratin <sigh>

[essvee]

What a bee-yoo-tiful chicken. There is a wonderful bit of either Dumas or Brillat-Savarin floating around in my brain where the author is waxing rhapsodic about a chicken, comparing it to various court ladies and exclaiming: "It is as white as M. Broussard, as fat as M. Vouchay, as white and fat as M. Ducard..."

Foodman, your chicken is as fat and as white as M. Ducard.

[bleudauvergne]

Nice looking meal, Elie. It is difficult to keep the pics snapping when you have guests to entertain. I raise my hand as a both first and second edition hoarder. I'll never let either of them go.

[Abra]

Allow me to post an ode to Red Beans with Pork and Carrots.

If anyone knows how to take really good pictures of beans, please let me know. Mine always look fuzzy and gooey.

I made these the other night for Suzanne F when she blew into town from New York. It's the best pork and beans dish in the whole wide world, as far as I'm concerned. Also, it probably contains the most different types of fat in any dish I've ever made.

I used Rancho Gordo's beautiful Rio Zape beans, and both pork shoulder and pancetta as directed, and also couldn't resist sneaking in a few ounces of my home-cured and home-smoked bacon. So right there's the pork fat, then there was duck fat, and butter, and walnut oil. Even though it's not a good picture, you can see that it's not swimming in grease, but it did have enough fat to be swooningly lush in the mouth, rich and satisfying in the best possible way.

Quick, before the weather gets too warm, you owe it to yourself to make this dish! And don't skip the Armagnac/red wine vinegar/walnut oil drizzle as a garnish. It sounds improbable, but it's a wonderful little touch.

[Anna N]

I was beginning to think that I was doomed to never cook anything from Paula’s book. I had planned the Chicken from Correze a couple of weeks ago. Went shopping with my daughter and purchased all the ingredients. She unloaded my groceries and left for an appointment WITH MY CHICKEN STILL IN THE TRUNK OF HER CAR! By the time I was able to reach her that damned chicken was in no fit state to cook.

But last night I finally accomplished it. The pan I chose (an LC Dutch oven) wasn’t quite tall enough to accommodate the chicken on its side and was a tight fit all around. When I tried to put the lid on there was no tight seal. This may account for the fact that it took longer to cook than suggested in the recipe. It also made it difficult to turn and to baste. But I persevered and upped the temperature for the last stage.

The chicken itself got rave reviews. I was asked how I managed to keep it so juicy (it was just a supermarket variety). But the stuffing fell on deaf taste buds or perhaps I should say texture buds! I personally loved the taste but the texture just seemed off – it may have been the bread choice (I used a sourdough loaf). I will definitely make it again but I am wondering what vessel others used so that the chicken could cook on its side and still have a tight-fitting lid.

[hathor]

I was beginning to think that I was doomed to never cook anything from Paula’s book.  I had planned the Chicken from Correze a couple of weeks ago.  Went shopping with my daughter and purchased all the ingredients.  She unloaded my groceries and left for an appointment WITH MY CHICKEN STILL IN THE TRUNK OF HER CAR!  By the time I was able to reach her that damned chicken was in no fit state to cook.

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Anna, you get a large gold star for perserverance!! And form making me laugh! That sounds like one of my stories....!

[Anna N]

I was beginning to think that I was doomed to never cook anything from Paula’s book.  I had planned the Chicken from Correze a couple of weeks ago.  Went shopping with my daughter and purchased all the ingredients.   She unloaded my groceries and left for an appointment WITH MY CHICKEN STILL IN THE TRUNK OF HER CAR!  By the time I was able to reach her that damned chicken was in no fit state to cook.

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Anna, you get a large gold star for perserverance!! And form making me laugh! That sounds like one of my stories....!

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Thanks - that's the way I live - one disaster after another!

Last night we had Steamed Mussels with Ham, Shallots and Garlic. Paula is right, ham and mussels go together very well. I eyeballed the prosciutto when I should have weighed it so I think I used too much and the broth ended up being a bit saltier than I would have liked but otherwise this was a lovely appetizer.

[mrbigjas]

been a while since anyone posted in this thread, eh?

i'm always looking for something to do with a chicken liver when i buy a chicken. my wife doesn't really eat them, so usually i just fry them up in some clarified butter, flambee in cognac, and eat it as the chef's treat.

so i'll tell you what i did this week: i made the duck liver flan with caramel vinegar sauce. but i made one flan, with one chicken liver. it's pretty easy; just divide everything in the recipe by five.... what? oh calm down, it was great. the sauce. my god, the sauce.

[FoodMan]

been a while since anyone posted in this thread, eh?

i'm always looking for something to do with a chicken liver when i buy a chicken.  my wife doesn't really eat them, so usually i just fry them up in some clarified butter, flambee in cognac, and eat it as the chef's treat.

so i'll tell you what i did this week: i made the duck liver flan with caramel vinegar sauce.  but i made one flan, with one chicken liver.  it's pretty easy; just divide everything in the recipe by five.... what?  oh calm down, it was great.  the sauce.  my god, the sauce.

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LOL...kudos for you going above and beyond what a one liver from a chicken demands. I've been planning on making this recipe for a while but never got a round to it yet.

[mrbigjas]

it's really a pretty easy one. being an easily-bored eater who is only cooking for two the vast majority of the time, i realized a few years ago that it's worth my time to make small amounts of things, even when making much more would be nearly the same effort. sure, it's about the same amount of work to make 3 lbs of short ribs as 1 lb, but i'll be sick of them before i'm done, so i'll just make less.

and something this rich, especially--two of us split it and it was a great appetizer. it's just a chicken liver, but more importantly it's an excuse to try something out.

next up: one duck leg confit.

ok i'm kidding about that one.

[FoodMan]

For a quick dinner this past Saturday, I made a hybrid of the salt cured pork with fava bean ragu recipe. Basically I crisped up a duck leg confit (the confit recipe I used is the one in the book) and prepared a half batch of the wonderful fava bean ragu. and there you have it:

It was absolutly amazing with earthy tangy and fatty notes and went down great with a glass of wine. The fava beans I used are peeled frozen ones I bought from the store.

[Marc Olson]

I like the frozen fava suggestion. I was in a cassoulet mood this weekend (more to come) and thought about making the fava cassoulet, but at $4/lb for the unshucked pods I opted to stick with the Tarbais beans I already had soaking...

What type of duck did you use for your confit?

[Abra]

Holy smokes. Peeled frozen favas? That exists? Year-round favas? Wow.

[MarkinHouston]

Holy smokes.  Peeled frozen favas?  That exists?  Year-round favas?  Wow.

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Abra, I got my frozen favas at Whole Foods, thanks to FoodMan's suggestion upthread, and the fava bean ragu is the recipe I intend to use first. Before I got them I made the duck leg confit with peas, carrots, and prosciutto from the book. The last lunch I had which could compare with it was at Camdeborde's Le Comptoir in Paris. Every recipe I have tried from this book has been exceptional!

[Wolfert]

Check out the Montana or Mideast brands of frozen fresh favas: www.intlgourmet.com

In season, the owner of this site sells shucked fresh favas. And, we are in season so go for it!