i am ze master of ze french cuisine

Cassoulet is an intimidating endeavor.

This recipe was advertised to me as a soup by my mother. A particular soup, in fact, that we all fondly remember my Dad making many moons ago. And while there are definite similarities, it is not a soup. Silly Mom.



Okay, so it's rather soup looking while in the process, but the picture is deceiving.

Here is the recipe:

Field Made Cassoulet
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup flour
4 bone-in chicken thighs
2 andouille sausages (about 1 pound), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1/4 cup red wine
1 and 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
pepper
2 12 oz. cans cannellini beans

Heat olive oil in stew pot. Dredge the chicken in the flour and place in the pot and brown on all sides. Remove and set aside. Add sausages, carrot, onion, celery and garlic to the pot and saute until sausage is lightly browned and onion is translucent, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add wine, thyme, pepper, cannellini beans, and stir thoroughly. Lay the chicken atop the mixture and press down until almost covered. Cover the pot and set on low. Let simmer, checking occasionally for about an hour.


Okay, a few notes. Upon my Dad's recommendation, I added Cajun seasoning to my flour before dredging, just to add a little pizazz. As for the sausage, if you can't find andouille, find one with a similar flavor. I used chorizo. Now, cooking with wine is a new adventure for me. I asked my Dad what he used and he said cooking wine. However, neither of my parents are winos like me. If I wouldn't drink it, I'm not going to cook with it. So I used Menage a Trois. Oh, and when I added my chicken, I also added the crispy pieces of skin and other chicken drippings, adding more flavor. I let it cook for several hours instead of just one, theorizing that it would make the chicken more tender. Plus, I'm always paranoid when cooking chicken. But it did make it more tender.

The result?



More stew than soup, cassoulet is rustic and simple, while sounding delightfully French. It was deeeeelicious! Le magnifique!

recipe for disaster, of the delicious variety

Times are rough. Sometimes you're forced to do something with whatever random items left in your fridge. This week I made the world's tastiest sandwich.

Ingredients: (measurements are approximate, adjust to taste)
2 slices of bread (personally, I used generic wheat because that's what I had on hand)
2/3 cup diced steak bits (I happened to have leftover medium rare ribeye, but I suppose improvisation would do)
1/2 cup each sauteed onions and mushrooms, seasoned with salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tbs. softened butter
2 tbs. sweet onion mustard (I used a version from up country Maui, but Vidalia would do nicely too)

Now the key ingredient here is really the cheese. I used an Irish sharp cheddar made with Porter that I found at Costco.



Funky looking, yes. But delicious and not in the least bit scary. If forced to choose a substitute I would go with a Tillamook sharp white cheddar.

So to start, slather one side each of both pieces of bread. Place the first slice, butter side down in a small frying pan. Arrange your beef on the bread, then arrange your sauteed onions and mushrooms on top of that. If either the beef or the vegetables aren't seasoned properly (salt, pepper, maybe a little garlic powder), now is the time to make up for it. Then arrange your cheese on top. If you prefer you can thinly slice the cheese instead of grating. Now place the remaining slice of bread on top with the butter facing up.

Cook on medium until the bottom slice is toasted and firm enough to get a generous sized spatula under. Flip the sandwich over.

Now, this is where it gets difficult. No matter what, you're going to have pieces of steak, onion, and mushroom escape. No worries, just try to keep it to a minimum. The larger the spatula, the more successful you'll be. The important part is to keep the sandwich's form. You can always stuff everything back in after cooking.

Once both sides are golden brown, peel away the top layer of bread and spread on the mustard. Replace the bread and dig in.