Rabbit Confit and Cassoulet

One of the most iconic french dishes, depending on where you call home in the french countryside, the cassoulet dish has varied ingredients.  Similar to the way Americans argue over methods of barbecue or recipes for chili, the people of France swear by their personal recipes for cassoulet.  There is even legend that this bucolic bowl of meat and beans saved the people of France during the Hundred Years War.  According to this legend the English invaded the french countryside and lay siege to a town.  With the defending french soldiers growing weary and the food stores dwindling, the townspeople decided to make a giant hardy stew of meats and beans to raise the energy and morale of their defenders.  The dish was so hardy and worked so well that the defending french soldiers drove out the occupying English!  Originally cooked over the hearth with the residual heat from the fire, today this delectable dish can be recreated in the modern oven in just a couple hours.

Rabbit Confit

Ingredients:

a 2.5 to 3 lb rabbit
2 to 3 cups vegetable oil
1 Tbsp truffle oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp chopped parsely
2 tsp chopped rosemary
2 tsp chopped sage
2 tsp thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp peppercorns


Description:

Start by breaking down your whole rabbit into smaller workable pieces.  You can watch a chef do this here.  I had two front legs, two back legs, and two pieces from the saddle (or middle of the rabbit) and discarded the ribs and backbone.  Once your rabbit is broken down combine all of the ingredients in a bowl or dutch oven making sure the rabbit pieces are completely submerged in the oil.  Add more oil if you need to.  Let this marinade over night in your refrigerator.  After the rabbit has marinated preheat your oven to 300 degrees.  Place the dutch oven on the stove over medium heat and slowly bring the oil up to temperature.  Once the oil begins to shimmer and a few bubble begin to form cut the heat and cover.  Place into the oven for two hours.  Check halfway through to turn rabbit pieces and add more oil if necessary.  Once two hours has gone by, remove the dutch oven and place on stovetop uncovered to cool.  The rabbit should cool completely while remaining submerged in the oil.  Once everything is cooled the confit can be stored in a container where it is submerged in the oil and will last in the refrigerator for up to four weeks ... but it won't because it's so delicious!  Now that you have finished your confit it's time to make the cassoulet!

Rabbit Cassoulet

Ingredients:

confit meat from one 2 to 3 lb rabbit
2 cups Great Northern white beans, rinsed and soaked over night
2 yellow onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
3 to 4 cloves of garlic, minced
cheesecloth
butcher's twine

2 whole cloves of garlic
1 bunch parsley
1 sprig rosemary
4 to 6 sage leaves
2 springs thyme
2 tsp whole peppercorns
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
8 oz smoked sausage, thickly sliced on the bias

half of a french baguette (about the size of two fists)
2 cloves of garlic
1 small bunch of parsley

1/3 cup parmesan cheese
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
4 Tbsp olive oil




Description:

Place a large dutch oven over medium-high heat and add about 2 Tbsp olive oil.  Once heated, add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic.  Salt and pepper to taste and sauté until soft, about 5 to 7 minutes.  Add the drained beans and enough water to cover beans, chicken stock.  While waiting for this to come back to a boil make your garni bouquet by taking a piece of cheese cloth about 5 inches square, adding the whole garlic cloves, parsely, rosemary, sage, thyme, and peppercorns.  Wrap this up and tie with twine. Add it to the pot, cover, reduce heat, and slowly simmer for 40 minutes.  Uncover, remove garni bouquet, add diced tomatoes, and simmer another 10 minutes.  Remove about 2 cups of beans from pot with a little liquid and puree.  Add this back into the pot to help thicken. In a large skillet heat 1 Tbsp oil over high heat.  Add the smoked sausage and brown for about 5 minutes.  Add the pulled and/or diced duck confit and cook for another 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and add the meat back into the cassoulet.  Lower your oven rack to about 10 inches from the broiler and turn your broiler on high.  In food processor combine the baguette, garlic, parsley, parmesan, pepper, and last Tbsp of olive oil.  Process until the crumbles are about the size of oats.  Divide the cassoulet into single serving bowls, top with some of the bread topping, and broil until golden brown (about 5 minutes).

Tres Bon!

Two shootouts for this post: One shootout goes to Dylan and my friends, Tricia and Phil.  It is always so much fun when we get together and cook/eat/drink.  Love you  guys! The other shootout goes to a person I've never actually met, however I absolutely love her blog ... it can be found here.  Her blog is fantastic and she inspired me to make rabbit cassoulet.  Check her out!

Chocolate Chipotle Chili

Usually when one thinks of braising meats they don't really think of chili, at least I didn't until I ... well ... until I DID.  What is braising and why do people do it?  Well braising is simply taking meat (usually a tough cut) and browning it by searing, then cooking it low and slow in a low temperature closed moist environment for a lengthy time.  It is a process that's been around for a very long time.  In the very old days people used to cook by suspending a heavy metal pot over a fire to slowly braise their foods.  For more even heat people even placed embers from the fire below on top of the pot's lid.  Inside this metal pot meats and vegetables cooked low and slow in some liquid creating absolutely delicious dishes that take all that time and build wonderful character.  This dish is pretty easy to make.  Once you put it in the oven you have two whole hours to clean up, make a cocktail or pop a bottle of wine, and relax while it cooks away quietly in the old hotbox ... just don't finish the bottle and forget to take it out when it's done!

Ingredients:

about 2lbs of beef short ribs
1 large red onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp smoked paprika
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp ground cumin
about 16oz of beef stock
1 28oz can of beans (preferably black or pinto)
1 29oz can of diced tomatoes
3 or 4 finely diced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 oz unsweetened baker's chocolate
1 bunch scallions

Description:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Set your dutch oven on the stovetop with enough oil to lightly coat the bottom and turn the heat to high.  Let it get very hot.  Lay out your short ribs bone side down and generously salt and pepper them.  Place short ribs into the very hot dutch oven meat side down to sear, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the short ribs and set aside.  Place the onion and peppers into the pot and cook on medium high heat for about six to eight minutes.  Add the garlic, chili powder, smoked paprika, brown sugar, cocoa powder and cumin.  Turn the heat back up to high and cook for another two to three minutes.  Now add the beef stock and scrape any bits from the bottom of the pot. Drain and rinse the canned beans.  Add the beans, tomatoes with the canned liquid, the chipotle with adobo and the chopped chocolate.  Bring the whole mixture to a low simmer and add the short ribs back into the pot.  Nestle the ribs down into the mixture, cover and place in the oven for two hours.  Carefully remove the dish from the oven.  Carefully remove the short ribs from the dish and, on a separate plate, discard the bones and shred or chop the meat and return it to the pot.  Give one final stir and serve in a bowl with chopped scallions and rustic bread!

Fall Apple Crisp

This is absolutely one of Dylan's favorite things that I make.  If you are like me or my friends you went apple picking this fall and had way too many apples for one household.  There are so many different ways to deal with that "problem" from applesauce to apple pie, but Dylan's favorite is apple crisp!  This dish is simple to make and the preparation takes about fifteen minutes from start to finish.  The best part is that it will patiently bake away in the oven giving you plenty of time to eat dinner and then be ready to jump straight into that anxiously waiting pie hole ... err ... apple crisp hole on your face.  LOL

Ingredients:

2-4 apples
1 lemon
1 orange
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp good vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oats
1 tsp salt
1 stick COLD butter (diced)

Description:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Chop apples and place into large bowl.  I like to leave the skins on but you can peel the apples if you prefer.  Add the zest of the lemon and the orange to the bowl and juice half the lemon and orange, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Mix everything together and place into small baking dishes for individual servings or place into a large baking dish.  For the topping place the flour, sugar, brown sugar, oats, and salt into a stand mixer.  Mix on low for about 30 seconds to combine then add the diced butter and increase the speed a little.  Mix until the butter is about the size of small peas and the mixture is a little bit like gravel.

Place the topping onto the apples, place the baking dish(es) onto a sheet pan in case they bubble over while cooking, and place into the preheated oven for 45 minutes.  Once the time is up, remove the sheet pan and let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving ... unless you want to seriously burn the roof of your mouth!  I use this time to pull the vanilla ice cream out of the freezer and let it soften for a few minutes.  You can top this hot fall treat with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and maybe even a dap of whipped cream and impress your friends with your culinary expertise!