This time of year, at least in the northern hemisphere, and for those of you who haven’t escaped to a beach somewhere, it’s dark. It’s dark and it’s cold and the days both seem irredeemably short and impossibly long.
Then there’s the social pressure to get to work on your resolutions and get in shape, eat healthier, etc. As far as I’m concerned that’s a great plan – for making it even more bleak. Steamed skinless chicken breast with steamed cauliflower and strained lemon juice over steamed brown rice, while feeling bad I didn’t make my workout goal for the week, is not a recipe for improving the winter blues.
My solution to this, obviously, is comforting food. Sometimes that’s the stuff labeled “comfort food,” and I’d be lying if I told you Mac and Cheese hadn’t made it to the table in the last few weeks, but there’s also comforting food that falls outside the stereotypical “comfort food” comfort zone. The kind of dishes that fill your house with rich, mouthwatering, homey smells and fill your belly with rich, calming, get-me-my-elastic-pants feelings.
This week’s menu features one of my all time favorites. I call it an American Cassoulet because it’s not an authentic French cassoulet – though it’s a decent approximation. Essentially, it’s semi-sophisticated baked beans. It is not as sophisticated as it would be if it was made with duck and lyonnaise sausages and a mayonnaise jar full of duck fat, but more sophisticated than say the stuff from the can or the loaded baked bean recipe I’ll share with you all come summertime. It’s a rich bean stew with chicken and smoked sausage and bacon or pork belly. It cooks slowly in the oven though a lot of the day and it makes the house smell absolutely amazing. And on the plate, it’s just deeply satisfying. The kind of dish where you stop talking to eat, and not the other way around. With some good bread, a bracing bitter green salad, and a glass of red wine, it’s a few moments of happiness in the middle of the bleak midwinter.
While you’re here be sure to check out my other food project: The Chicken Thigh Guy
YAFBR: Yes, Another French Bread Recipe
I’m definitely a “dinner isn’t dinner without bread” sort of person. Most commercial bread is terrible. I usually make my own. This is my go-to recipe for simple yeasted (as opposed to levain or sourdough) baguettes or Batard bread. It’s an overnight recipe, so there’s a chance for some flour to develop, and it doesn’t require kneading, which is sort of handy. I usually form this into three demi-baguettes – because that’s what my oven can best handle. Sometimes they’re great. Sometimes they look like … well, they look like they were poorly made by a clumsy amateur baker, which they were. I’ve included instructions for forming a simple baguette, but you may want to consult YouTube for, well, better instructions from people that actually know what they’re doing.
Makes 3 demi-baguettes
350 g filtered water
3 grams yeast
500 g bread flour
11 grams salt
Add the yeast to the water and allow to dissolve.
Add the bread flour, and salt, and mix until a uniform, shaggy dough has formed. Your goal is make sure that all clumps of flour have been sufficiently incorporated, and there aren’t large dry bits hanging around.
Place in a covered container and allow to proof in a cool spot overnight.
Remove dough from container and stretch into a rectangle. Fold into thirds. Repeat until you can no longer easily stretch – probably 3 cycles of folding.
Return the dough to the container and rest for 15 minutes.
Repeat folding process.
Rest an additional 15 minutes.
Stretch and fold a third time.
Rest for 15 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 425°F
Divide dough into three even portions.
Shape these portions into rectangles, approximately 4x8 inches.
Rolling from the bottom to the top, tightly roll the rectangle along the long side, pinching the seam closed.
With floured hands, roll the ends of the resulting dough cylinder into a long thin baguette shape.
Allow the loaves to proof for 35 minutes in a warm, moist place. Support the loaves with a banneton basket, a bakers couche, or using a floured dishtowel.
Immediately before transferring to the oven, cut 3-5 deep slashes into the bread, cutting at a slight angle mostly along the length of the loaf.
Bake for 35 -45 minutes, ideally with steam in the oven for the first 20 minutes. I simply put a cup of water in an old skillet on the oven bottom.
Mushroom Pate
I really wanted a pate on this week’s menu, but I’ve already done both chicken liver and a more rustic country-style terrine/pate. Luckily, there’s a near bottomless well of delicious spreadable meat and nearly meat products in the French culinary cannon to rely on. In this case, there’s no meat. Just mushrooms. In fact, this dish is pretty much mushrooms, some cream and butter, and a little seasoning. That’s it. But somehow the results are … well, extra. Definitely better than the sum of their parts.
We’ll start with plain, old fashioned, white button mushrooms, though you can substitute crimini or baby bellas (which are really just different names for the same thing) sauteed in butter with shallots and thyme. We augment those with a little bit of a weird addition that I’ve come to love and rely on a lot – dried shiitake mushroom powder. You can get dried shiitakes at your local Asian market, online or, to be honest, a lot of plain old groceries carry them now as well, though they’re often on an easily overlooked rack display near the produce section. I use a spice grinder to process them into a find powder that’s packed with flavor and disappears into almost anything you use it in. Here, it just augments mushroom factor without messing about with additional liquid, but I also use it in a variety of other dishes – dust it on steaks, add it to red pasta sauces, and add it to meatballs and other forcemeats. It gives you a rich umami flavor and complexity, while not screaming, hey, I added mushrooms.
Serve this just as you would a rich meat or liver-based pate - with good crusty bread, some French style cornichon pickles, and mustard.
Makes one mini terrine loaf
1 lbs white button mushrooms
1 large shallot
2 sprigs thyme
½ tsp five spice powder, quatre epices, or pie spice
½ tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup cream
4 oz unsalted butter
2 tbsp kosher salt
1 oz brandy (opt)
4 medium dried shiitake mushrooms, ground to powder
4 dried morel mushrooms – soaked and chopped (opt)
or 1 tsp chopped preserved truffle
Clean the mushrooms by brushing them off with a dry cloth.
Chop the mushrooms as fine as possible – I simply toss them in a food processer.
Peel, trim, and coarsely chop the shallot.
Add 4 oz of unsalted butter to a wide, low fry or sauté pan over medium heat.
As soon as the butter stops foaming, add the shallot and cook until the shallot is just beginning to brown.
Add the chopped mushrooms, salt, and cook until most of the liquid has been expelled from the mushrooms and evaporated – when the mixture just starts to look dry.
Add the cream, brandy, thyme, spice, pepper, and transfer the mixture to the container of a blender.
Blend at high speed until mixture is completely smooth.
Fold in the dried shiitake powder.
If using, fold in the morels or truffles.
Spoon the mixture into a miniature loaf pan lined with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate at least four hours and up to 24 hours.
To serve, slice, sprinkle with finishing salt, and garnish with pickles, mustards, and herbs.
Bitter Greens with Mustard Vinaigrette, Chèvre, and Almonds
I know what you’re saying. Really? More Bitter Greens?
Yes. You all probably think that I’ve become the official paid evangelist of mouth puckeringly delicious bitter green salads. I’m not paid. I might have become slightly evangelical on this topic. The great thing about them is that they allow you to really enjoy super rich foods – like the mushroom pate above, and the Cassoulet you’ll find below – without succumbing to richfoodoverload.™ Note: this word is made up. It is not a trademark. I just think the ™ symbol is funny. Once tossed with a mustardy vinaigrette, bitter greens are the perfect balance to the richness of the main courses – and they make your wine taste better. Seriously. Try it.
Serves 4
3 cups roughly chopped curly endive
1 cup roughly torn radicchio leaves
4 tbsp chèvre
2 tbsp slivered almonds
1 small shallot
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp smooth Dijon mustard
½ tsp kosher salt
Add the vinegar, salt, black pepper, and mustard to a non-reactive bowl.
Peel, trim, and mince or microplane the shallot.
Add the shallow to the vinegar mixture and allow to marinate for 10 minutes.
Slowly add the oil, whisking as you pour it in to create an emulsion.
Toss the greens with the dressing.
Garnish with almonds and chèvre.
An American Cassoulet
I already ranted at length above about this dish, so I’ll keep it short here. This stuff is great. The leftovers are great. It makes your house smell really good. Oh, and it’s really rich. A small portion is perfectly satisfying.
Smaller chicken thighs are good here, as they both fit in the pot better and are better for portion size. For the smoked sausage, look for something a little less processed than the mainstream brands, and go more on the garlic-ey side than the red-pepper side - though almost anything will be tasty. You probably want to avoid the beer cheese brats, but I’ve even made it with very good locally made natural casing hot dogs.
Serves 4
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
4 cups water
2 cup dry navy beans
4 pieces dinner-cut bacon or equivalent amount of pork belly
12-14 oz garlic-ey smoked sausage
4 cups chicken stock
1 rib celery
1 medium onion
1 medium carrot
2 cloves garlic
4 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
½ cup white wine
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
Soak the beans in 4 cups of water for at least 8 hours and up to overnight.
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Wash, peel, trim, and dice the carrot into ⅛-inch pieces.
Peel, trim, and cut the onion into a ⅛-inch dice.
Wash, trim, and finely dice the celery.
Peel and mince the garlic.
Cut the sausage into 4 pieces, each 3 to 4 inches long (these will decorate the top), and cut the remaining sausage into bite sized pieces.
Season the chicken well with salt and pepper on both sides.
Heat a Dutch oven or other large oven-proof pot over medium heat.
Add the bacon or pork belly to the pan and cook until it begins to brown and has released a good bit of fat.
Add the finely diced onions, carrots, and celery and garlic to the rendered fat.
Cook over medium high heat until the vegetable mirepoix (aka onion, carrot and celery) begins to brown and caramelizes slightly.
Deglaze the pan with white wine, stirring well to get all the deeply flavored brown bits into the liquid.
Reduce the heat.
Add the beans, garlic, and chicken stock.
Season with salt and black pepper.
Sink the pork, and small sausage pieces in the beans and arrange the chicken and larger sausage pieces on top.
Tuck the thyme and bay leaves in between sausages and chicken pieces.
Transfer to a 350°F oven and cook until the beans are softened and most of the liquid is absorbed. The time may vary based on humidity, and the beans, but up to 4 hours.
Crème Caramel
When Kate and I were discussing what to prepare for this week’s menu, she encouraged me to have something bright and light as a dessert – you know, as a contrast to the richness of the pate and the cassoulet. I did not listen. I probably should have, as having eaten several of these Crème Carmel while finalizing the recipe, I could absolutely have something light and refreshing right now. Maybe a daiquiri.
Crème Caramel is rich, delicious, and although it is a cold dessert, it is somehow intensely satisfying as the end of a warm, rich meal on a cold winter night. They’re like Crème Brulée without the fussy little torch, and they make their own caramel sauce – which is kind of awesome in its own right.
Makes 4 servings
Caramel
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp water
Heat water and sugar in a thick bottomed pan over medium heat.
Do not stir. Stirring can cause the sugar to crystalize.
When the sugar has formed a medium dark caramel remove from heat.
Pour just caramel enough to coat the bottom of each ramekin.
Allow to cool completely.
Crème
4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
In a steel bowl, or the top of a double boiler, gently mix the egg yolks and sugar. Try not to introduce too much air.
Add the cream and vanilla extract.
Heat over a saucepan of simmering water or a double boiler until the mixture begins to thicken.
Allow to cool slightly, then pour into the ramekins with the caramel at the bottom, prepared in the previous step.
Place the ramekins in a high-sided pan and add hot water to the pan so that the water comes 2/3rd of the way up the outsides of the ramekins.
Carefully place the pan in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the center of the crème caramel is just slightly jiggly.
Cool to room temperature and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
To serve, run a sharp knife around the edge of the custard and turn the ramekin over on the plate. The custard will drop out and the accompanying sauce will spill over it.