Cassoulet My Way

I’m having a hard time getting back to reality after the Vue De Monde experience. For the first time in a long time I can honestly say I felt calm and contented after our lunch. We did nothing but eat fine food and drink exceptional wine all afternoon whilst served by super attentive waiters. What really transported me to tranquility wasn’t the idle behavior that consumed the day, but rather, the sense of luxury that VDM conveys. Every detail has an opulent solution at this restaurant- sometimes extravagant, sometimes cheeky but always comfortable. The only problem I find with being exposed to excellence is that nothing else apart from excellence will satisfy.
As much as I would love to eat like that everyday (and trust me, I would if I could), there is no way you or I are able to produce food of the same standard as served by VDM. Unless of course, you were to employ a team of Michelin starred chefs. I don’t know I can afford that so I guess I’ll have to leave “haute cuisine” in restaurants were it belongs and get back to my “cuisine menagere”.
And so what does one cook after having eaten in arguably the best restaurant in Australia? It’s a hard one to decide because I want to still feel confident and competent in the kitchen. I decided it was probably best to not attempt any dish of superior lavishness, and instead go in the completely opposite direction. I’m sticking to rustic, for a while. Or at least until my very over-the- top expectations have worn off.

Ingredients
500g haricot blancs beans, soaked in water for 24 hours
2- 3 tbsp duck fat
250g pork belly, cut into chunks
3 pork and garlic sausages (use a French or Italian style. Keep away from English and “gourmet” sausages. They are wrong in this dish, as lovely as they can be)
2 duck “Maryland”, cut into thigh and leg pieces
½ large red onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot finely chopped
1 leek, finely chopped (use the white part only)
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
250ml rose wine
Fresh bouquet garni made from bay, thyme and parsley
1 star anise
1 litre stock
1-2 tbsp tomato concentrate (optional)
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

Method
Melt 1- 2 tbsp of duck fat in a large saucepan over a medium high heat.
Brown the pork belly, duck pieces and sausages in batches. Set them aside on a plate.
Lower the heat and add more fat if you think it needs it.
Now you can gently sauté the onions, carrot, celery, leek and garlic for about 15 minutes. Do not allow them to colour- the flavours in this dish are gentle.
Add the wine. Turn the heat to high and allow it to bubble for a minute.
Add the bouquet, star anise, stock, drained beans, pork belly and duck to the pot. Add the tomato concentrate, if you are using that too. The only thing that should not be in the pot at this stage, are the sausages.
Cover and simmer for 1 hour. In the meantime cut the sausages into chunks and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180c.
Taste and season the beans with a touch of salt and some pepper.
Remove the bouquet.
Ladle the entire contents of the pot into one large baking dish, adding the sausages.
Bake for 1 to 1½ hours or until a brown crust has formed on the beans.
The final result should be tender beans with sufficient liquid to form a tasty, rich sauce and meltingly tender meat.
Sprinkle over with chopped fresh parsley if you like. Serves 4 – 6 people.
This is definitely a dish for the wintertime. It is rich and comforting and perfect for Sunday lunch or dinner. I don’t bother serving anything but bread and wine with this dish- I don’t think it needs it.

Mushroom, Sausage Meatballs and Potato Gnocchi

Australia does have a winter, and it has finally arrived. It is currently 9am and 8C, here in the metropolis of Melbourne, Australia. It is glacial! Well not quite arctic, but it is bloody cold! Citizens from other countries imagine that Australia is a tropical paradise with kangaroos hopping about in our backyards. I blame the Australian tourism industry for selling such a bullshit image of my charming country to the rest of humankind. Yes it is true, that Northern Australia is a steamy territory, but here in the southern state of Victoria and Tasmania, we definitely experience the four seasons.
Anyway, for today’s recipe I have chosen a true winters day dish. Well actually my partner in life and food blogging chose the subject for me. You see he decided to write of his grandly successful gnocchi yesterday, and as I made the sauce for those delicate little potato pillows, I have no choice now but to write about my delectable accompaniment. Thank you Mikey! I would also like to mention that Mike has an innate gift for producing superior homemade pasta of all types- tagliatelle, tagliarini, ravioli and gnocchi. For an individual who did not grow up eating home produced pasta (Mike is of Russian descent), he is doing very well indeed. I guess he has a wonderful instructor (myself!).
I must warn you- this is very rich. I would only make this dish for a chilly winters evening and then enjoy it in small quantities.

Ingredients
50g unsalted cultured butter
50ml extra virgin olive oil
50g pancetta lardons
15 small Swiss Brown mushrooms, halved
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red onion, thinly sliced
300g pork and fennel seed sausage meat
150ml meat stock
200ml porcini stock
200g Béchamel sauce
1 tsp white truffle oil
Grana Padana cheese, finely grated
Fresh black pepper
Freshly grated parsley
1 quantity Mikey’s gnocchi

Method
Over a low heat, gently cook the pancetta, mushrooms and garlic in half the butter and oil, for 20 minutes. The mushrooms and pancetta should brown lightly.
In a separate pan melt the remaining butter and oil and caramelize the onion slices for about 30 minutes, over a low heat.
Whilst the onions are gilding, roll the sausage meat into little balls, the same size as the gnocchi.
Once the onions are done add them to the pan containing the mushrooms.
Brown the sausage meatballs in the remaining fat used to fry the onion.
Add the browned meatballs to the mushrooms.
Deglaze the pan used to brown the onions and meatballs, with the meat stock.
Add the reduced meat stock and porcini stock to the mushrooms, onion and meatballs. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Mix the teaspoon of truffle oil into the béchamel sauce.
Turn the oven to the highest temperature.
Gently mix the gnocchi with the mushroom and meatball sauce.
Place into a baking dish and dot with the truffle scented béchamel sauce.
Drizzle over with grated Grana cheese.
Bake in the oven until the dish is a lightly golden brown, about 10 minutes. Scatter with chopped parsley and black pepper. Eat at once. Serves 4.

Sugo di Salsiccie

If you read this blog often, you may have noticed that I have a fondness for foods that are a touch on the expensive side. In truth, the foods that I choose to write about are those that are out of the ordinary and also coincidently, just happen to be a bit dear. We are all accustomed to dishes with chicken and beef. Or potatoes and carrots. I just don’t see the point in writing about everyday food. Nor do I want to write of the common and mundane. How boring. The reason I write this blog is because I want to inspire others to eat more glamorously.
But in reality, if Mike and I ate pigeons and black truffles every night, I think our rent wouldn’t get paid. So yes, we do eat a lot of “normal” food too. And one of those economical ingredients I take advantage of is sausage. They are inexpensive and yummy and I buy several varieties from the butcher and freeze them to use later. However, there are times that it feels as though sausages are coming out of our nostrils from over consumption and too many dinners. As a result I am always trying to think up of fresh, new ways to serve and eat them.
One of my favorite ways to cook sausages is to remove the meat from the casing to turn them into a luscious sauce for homemade tagliatelle. For this dish I use spicy Italian style sausages, made from pork, chilies and small chunks of fat. I know a lot of people find the idea of fats in food repulsive, but I absolutely love it.
Fat is what gives food rich taste and full, rounded texture. Low fat food is devoid of both these qualities and that is why low fat food and diets are unsatisfying, and in the long term unsustainable. Please don’t get the wrong idea with this bold statement. Everything should be in moderation. I don’t mean one should go and gorge on a tub of margarine.
When I talk of fat, I mean natural and delicious ones. Like pure olive and nut oils. Unsalted cultured butter. And yes, that too includes duck fat and pork fat.
Not hideous and dangerous man made hydrogenated grease, which is what margarine is. I have never understood why in this day and age people eat such a vile concoction. These hard and saturated fats taste dreadful and are bad for ones health. I avoid them like the plague and they definitely have no place in my cooking.
Anyway, back to the sausages.
Buy sausages from a real butcher- not the supermarket. Ask the butcher what he puts into the sausages. The best sausages are those made from pure meat and fat with seasonings, spices and herbs. Try to stay away from sausage meat that is made into a fine paste from meat scraps with extenders and binders. The more unadulterated the mix, the better the sausages will taste.

Ingredients
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 star anise
2- 3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
350g spicy pork sausage meat (use an Italian style or Spanish chorizo)
150ml rose wine
400g tin Italian cherry tomatoes (pureed in a mouli)
250 ml very good homemade stock (stock cubes will be too salty with sausage meat)
1 tsp brown sugar
Plenty of freshly chopped parsley
Black and white pepper

Method
Place the onion, celery and star anise into a saucepan with the olive oil. Cook over a low heat for 30 minutes (or until the onion is reduced and caramelized).
Add the sausage meat. Turn the heat to high and cook to just remove the raw color from the meat. Do not brown, it makes the meat hard.
Deglaze with the wine and simmer for a moment.
Add the tomatoes, stock and sugar. If you don’t have homemade stock, just use water. Simmer for 1 hour.
Season the sauce with pepper and finish with lots of parsley. You probably will not need salt, but add it if you think it needs it.
This amount of sauce is perfect for 300g of fresh homemade tagliatelle.
Serve sprinkled with a hard but mild tasting ewes’ milk cheese. I particularly like this sauce with a Spanish Manchego. Try to avoid Grana or Parmaggiano. I don’t think they combine well with chili.
Enough for 3 serves.

Pork Sausages with Cider Vinegar and Herbs

As you might have guessed from earlier posts, I love discovering and using fine ingredients. I am currently obsessed with vinegar. Vinegar should provide acidity as well as flavour, and my favourite at the moment is an apple cider vinegar from Limoges, France. It is clean, sharp and fruity. This particular vinegar is beautifully balanced and compliments the richnes of pork.
I used an Italian style sausage for this recipe. My butcher sells them under the name of Sicilian sausage. These pork sausages are dense, coarse and flavoured with garlic, peppercorns and fennel seeds. Duck or a Tolouse style sausage would make an excellent alternative. Avoid those sausages with funny names, like whiskey & fennel, or teriyaki & pineapple (do people actually eat these?), or with strange fillers and dubious extenders.

Ingredients
500g Italian sausages with fennel seeds (6 sausages)
1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage
4 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
75ml extra virgin olive oil
25ml cider vinegar
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
Fresh white pepper

Preheat the oven to 200c. Prick the sausages all over with a sharp implement, so they don’t explode whilst cooking. Roast them for about 45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
Mix together all the remaining ingredients to form a condiment. Serve with the sausages, either drizzled over or on the side. A very easy and comforting dinner. Serves 2.
Note- New potatoes and baby onions make a wonderful addition roasted along with the sausages. Have lots of bread to mop up the sticky juices left over in the roasting pan!

Lamb Sausages and Caramelised Onion with Mustard Fruits

My butcher sells sausages of exceptional quality. I am seduced by his heavenly products. Every time I pass by his shop window I cannot resist purchasing the fine charcuterie. Yesterday was no exception..
The sausages I bought contained minced lamb, spices and rosemary He uses no binders or extenders and stuffs them in real intestines
I pan fried them and served them with caramelized onion, streaky bacon and cumin spiced mashed potato.
Mostarda di Cremona (a mixture of fruits preserved in a mustard syrup) was the perfect condiment for this meal.

Ingredients
1 onion, sliced into 1cm rounds
2 rashers of streaky bacon, sliced
15g lard
1 10cm stick of rosemary
1 pinch sugar
1 –2 tsp sherry vinegar
500g lamb sausages
100ml dry sherry
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper.
Plenty of freshly chopped parsley

Method
To cook the onions, put the lard into a wide pan.
When it is melted, add the onion, bacon, rosemary branch and sugar.
Cook very gently for about 30 minutes. Give it a stir every now and then, until the onions caramelize.
Discard the rosemary branch.
Add the sherry vinegar and then remove the onions to a plate and reserve.
Add the sausages to the same pan and brown them on all sides. There should be enough fat to do so. If not, just add a little more lard.
Throw in the sherry, cover the pan and gently braise your sausages for 20 minutes or until tender.
Add the reserved caramelized onions and season.

Sprinkle over with the parsley and serve with mash and mustard fruits. Serves 2.

Surf 'n' Turf

Angels on Horseback. Alligator and Sausage. Bacalao y Chorizo. Beef Tenderloin and Lobster Tails. Beef Tenderloin and Scallops. Beef Tenderloin and Shrimp.. Bacalao y Jamon. Barramundi and Braised Veal. Beef in Oyster Sauce. Blue Eye cod wrapped in Prosciutto. Carpetbag Steak. Chicken and Prawn Salad. Chicken and Seafood Paella. Chorizo and Clams. Chorizo and Pork. Coast and Roast. Cod and Beef Ribs. Dam ‘n’ Ham. Hoof and Harbour. Jelly Fish and Pork Salad. Lobster and Black Pudding. Lobster and Chicken. Mare e Montagna. Mussels and Beef Fillet. Oysters Kilpatrick. Poulet Saute Marengo. Prawn and Pork Wontons. Pork Belly and Scallops. Pork and Clams. Pancetta wrapped Salmon. Reef and Beef. Roast lamb with Anchovy. Rudder and Udder. Roast Jewfish and Confit Pork Cheeks. Ship to Shore. Squid stuffed with Jamon. Steak and Moreton Bay Bugs. Salmon Confit with Prosciutto and Horseradish. Sweetbread and Chicken Terrine with Asparagus and Yabbies. Tortellini of Slow Braised Pork Shoulder and Pumpkin with sautéed Yabbie Tail. Veal Medallions and Lobster Tails. Vitello Tonnato. Veal with Prawn and Morels..... This is my version of surf 'n' turf...


Slow Cooked Pork Sausage and Mussels.

Ingredients
4 pure pork sausages
3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and grated
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp of flour
100ml white wine
100ml of tomato puree (not concentrate)
250ml chicken stock (I used fake)
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Fresh black and white pepper
500g live mussels.
Freshly chopped parsley

Method.
Heat the oil over a high heat and brown the sausages. This should only take 2 minutes or so.
Move the sausages to a plate and stab each sausage with a clove.
Transfer the sausages to an oven proof dish and allow to rest.
Lower the heat and using the same pan used for the sausages, gently sauté the onion, carrot and garlic for 30 minutes.
Allow the aromatics to cook right down and colour gently.
Add the flour and stir about for 1 minute.
Pour in the liquids and bring to the simmer.
Add the cinnamon stick and season with pepper.
Pour this tomato and wine sauce all over and around the sausages and bake covered for 3 hours at 100c or the lowest temperature your oven will cook at.
After 3 hours the sausages will be extremely tender with a delicious gelatinous quality.
Remove the sausages to a plate and fish out the cloves.
Discard the cloves and cut the sausages into halves or as you wish. Keep the sausages warm.
Turn up the oven to the highest setting.
Place the mussels into the sauce in the oven dish used to cook the sausages.
Cook this in the oven, until the mussels open, about 5 minutes or so.
Serve the sausages in bowls with the mussels and sauce spooned over.
Sprinkle with parsley. Serves 2.

Chorizo, Chickpea & Chimichurri

It is 4pm, as I write this and 10c outside and it is two weeks before summer. Very bizarre weather we are experiencing here in Melbourne, Australia. Maybe I should begin planning for a white Christmas….

Chorizo, for those who do not know, is a sausage of Spanish origin but also found in Central and South America. It can be made with beef and/ or pork and contains olive oil, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper. There are as many varieties, as there are towns in Spain, and is available dried or fresh. The dried version is more like a salami and unsuitable for the following recipe. You need the fresh version here. Chorizo is tastier than any Italian cotechino or French Toulouse sausage, I have tried. Buy your chorizo from a Spanish deli or a Latin American butcher.

Chimichurri is a South American condiment made from oil, vinegar, garlic and fresh parsley. It is similar to Italian salsa verde. Most versions I have tried are made with malt vinegar and a tasteless vegetable oil. I honestly do not care much for either of these products, and as they have no place in my kitchen (okay, I do fry in vegetable oil sometimes), I substitute red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. It is rather piquant and best served in small quantities. Chimichurri is traditionally served with barbequed meat, but marries especially well with chorizo. It will keep indefinitely, covered in the fridge. Just make sure to bring it to room temperature and give it a quick mix before eating. Serve with any plain grilled or roasted meat or use it to marinate meat before cooking.

Ingredients

400 g fresh chorizo (chorizo come in many sizes. Mine were thick and weighed 200g each)
1 tsp lard or oil
400g can Italian chickpeas, drained and rinsed

For the chimichurri

250ml extra virgin olive oil
60ml red wine vinegar
1 tsp sweet Spanish paprika
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp chilli paste (I used my own homemade roasted chilli paste. But you can substitute fresh or dried chilli)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped (or to taste. Actually it is traditional to add about 6 cloves or more, but I do not wish to smell like raw garlic for a week after)
1 tsp of finely chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp dried greek oregano
1 large bunch of parsley leaves, finely chopped.
1 tsp of sugar
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

Method.

The first thing you need to do is mix all the ingredients for the chimichurri in a glass bowl and leave to rest. That is it. I know the list of ingredients looks daunting, but there is not much involved, other than chopping the parsley.
Melt the lard in a wide saucepan and quickly sear the chorizo until browned, about 1 minute for each side.

Splash in about 100ml water and reduce the heat to lowest.

Put the lid on and cook your chorizo. The time will depend on the size of your chorizo. Mine were large and needed an hour. Smaller chorizo may need only 20 minutes. Adjust accordingly.

Turn them from time to time and make sure the pan is not drying out and burning.

Remove the chorizo, and keep warm.

Deglaze the pan with some water, dissolving all the brown bits stuck to the pan. The juices in the pan will be red.

Add the chickpeas and heat gently for 10 minutes, to allow the chickpeas to absord some of the juices.

Strain away the remaining juices (they will be too salty) and serve with the chorizo, sliced into coins and the chimichurri, dribbled over.

Serves 2 people. This dish can be very easily doubled.