Cassoulet


I had a wonderful morning watching day 14 of the Tour de France.  The cyclists had four significant climbs so I expect after another brutal week of riding they were ready to have a day off although I suspect most of them would have done a bit of riding to keep legs moving.

Afterwards I went to a friends place where I had lunch and chat with my friend before heading home to create dinner for Bev.

Being winter, Bev wanted to try a cassoulet.  It is a stew that originated in the southwest of France.  One book I read suggested that it was created to use up all the geese that had been used for foie gras.  It seems that each region has its own ingredients.  All the recipes have dried white beans as the base.  The liquour that is created when cooking the beans in flavoured water is used later to provide moisture for the stew.  Essentially a vegetable stock.  The other ingredients that are common are Toulouse sausages and bacon.  Some have duck confit, goose confit, mutton or pork.  The elements of the stew are browned and then all put together and cooked slowly in the over.  It makes a very hearty and flavoursome meal.  

When I got back to Bev's place I set about making it to have it ready soon after she came home from work.  I was hoping that she considered a triumph of culinary skills.  She certainly thought it tasted nice and what more could one want. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Annandale - Inner West Sydney

Image
 It was a cool start to what was to be a beautiful day.  A friend of mine had suggested that I might like to meet a friend of hers who lived in Sydney.  I thought it would be nice to do and made contact. We had arranged to meet in Brook Street which is in the inner west of Sydney in a place called Annandale.  I was not at all familiar with the area so it was a new adventure.  Central Station Concourse The instructions were get to Central (Railway Station) and take Bus 470 direction Lilydale.  What could be difficult.  It was an early start so I was on a full train with office workers heading to the CBD.  Alighting from the train I found a sign that directed me to go, on what turned out to be a long walk to the bus station. The route took me under the railway lines in a series of tunnels.  Despite the long walk it was interesting as there were lots of interesting murals. The tunnels seemed new and I suspect were part of the upgrade to the stat...
Read more

Orange Grove Market

Image
After watching the Tour de France we went to the Balmain area to a market we had made acquaintance with a few months ago called Orange Grove Market.  It is held at a local primary school with the same name.  I think it is almost as good as the Eveleigh Farmers Market.   We were able to get some good quality vegetables at a very reasonable price.  There was a nice fromager who had an interesting range of cheeses.  We got a comté to celebrate the TdeF passing through the Jura where this cheese is made.  The other cheese was a blue from Gippsland in Victoria.  We were impressed with the flavour and is the best blue cheese that I have had from Australia.  There were of course a number of food stalls and being lunch time we availed ourselves of some of the goodies.  I had some very nice dumplings and Bev a serving of Gozleme.    The previous night I had made a Lamb and Guiness Pie of which there was sufficient to feed an army. ...
Read more

Tackling the Bobbin Head Trail

Image
Sunday dawned dull and grey.  A perfect morning to watch the TdeF.   The Tour de France stage was in the mountains and the riders had to climb three of them. These guys are supreme athletes especially the climbers who go up these steep inclines at speeds only I have ever dreamed about.  The longest climb so far has been 17kms with gradients up to 15% or perhaps even more.  Often at the end of them some of the riders have to be helped off their bikes.  Bev had wanted to take me walking on one of the many trails in this part of the upper North Shore.  One trail we have cycled past is called the Bobbin Head trail which takes one down to Bobbin Head.  Neither of us had any idea what it would be like, although Bev thought it would be through the bush.   We drove to the North Turramurra shopping centre and stopped for a cup of coffee.  We chose a café that neither of us had been to before as we figured the coffee might be nice.  The ...
Read more