Valentine Odyssey Part 1

Today I started working on my Valentine’s Day dinner. Dinner was inspired by the Cassoulet in Fine Cooking, but I did not use that recipe as they wanted you to make Duck Confit. I would have loved to do that but could not find 3# of duck fat. So I guess every time I make duck from now on, I will have to save the fat.


I reverted to Julia. I am making her Cassoulet De Porc et De Mouton . I started reading and rereading the recipe about 2 weeks ago. Each week I have also been finding out what I could find locally and what was impossible in the day of remote butchers. I can’t imagine that a lot of you will actually make this so I will not list ingredients in detail. If you do want to attempt it after experiencing my odyssey, it is on page 401 of Volume One of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. You really need to get this directly from Julia. Finding the ingredients to make this was like a treasure hunt. She recommends that in order to preserve your sanity that you make it over 3 days. She calls it “A Note on the Order of Battle.” I started by making a dry marinade of salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf, allspice and garlic. You rub it all over the pork and refrigerate overnight.

Next I started on the beans. I had to resort to some of her variations list, as some ingredients I just could not find. So instead of fresh pork rind, I am using ham hocks. No one sells uncut bacon so I am using a chunk of salt pork. I chose not to make homemade sausage cakes, which are a substitute for Saucisse de Toulouse. Instead I am using Polish sausage. So all this assembled soaked and boiled, I am spending the rest of the day on the beans.

Dinner has to be simple tonight so I am making Quinoa and Avocado Salad as shown on page 47 of Feb/ Mar issue of Fine Cooking Magazine. So Jim doesn’t complain about his lack of protein, I am cooking up some chicken apple sausages to go with it. He has to see meat to believe he is getting protein.

Serves 4

3T Raisins, I only use golden as that is the only kind I like

2T dried apricots thinly sliced

1C Red or White Quinoa. I found both red and white in the gluten free aisle at Wegman’s.

1 Lemon

3 T EVOO

¼ t ground coriander

¼ t ground cumin

¼ t sweet paprika

2 ripe avocados

2 scallions

3 T coarsely chopped toasted almonds

Pepper

Soak the raisins and apricots in hot water for 5 minutes, Drain

In a 2 qt. saucepan, bring 2 C of water, the quinoa and ½ t salt to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent and tender, 10-15 minutes, mine took 20. Fluff with a fork and turn out on a sheet pan to cool to room temperature.

Zest the lemon and combine the zest, 1T of lemon juice, the EVOO and the spices. Toss the dressing with the quinoa, fruit, nuts and avocado.

About an hour before dinner I went downstairs to tell Jim what we were having for dinner and to ask if he needed buns with his sausage. His nose wrinkled up and the look on his face said, “She’s trying to kill me.” At dinner, he said this is cold. I explained that it was a salad. He had 2 large helpings and did not complain that it took too much chewing. He even pronounced it good. I have to say it was really good and a refreshing taste. I looked up quinoa on the internet. It has a 12-18% protein value and is considered a complete protein. It is also easy to digest. Jim said, “Why didn’t you tell me that the quinoa has lots of protein.”

We had a 2007 Le Altane Montepulciano d’Abruzzo available at Wegman’s. It is a well balanced, flavorful red wine.