Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wednesday in Tucson... dump cassoulet

I cooked on Monday !
Oh be still, sit down be calm, I know shocking news !

Really cooking, something involving more than a microwave or the broiler.
Involved were knives, can openers, wooden spoons, chopping, pans and the oven.
Plus fabulous aromas coming from the kitchen swirling around the house.

This recipe comes from my Japanese son who used to cook this dish when he was studying at the University Of Arizona before he completed his studies at University in Japan.
So this recipe has come full circle. It is back home in Tucson.

It is called dump cassoulet, his name not mine.
I call it David's Cassoulet.
But that is indeed what you do, just dump everything in the pot.

I made it vegetarian but two quick changes can make it meat based.



2 tins of great northern white beans and one of veggie broth (chicken or beef)
chopped fresh sage, chopped garlic in first pot.
Cook one chopped onion over low heat in second pan in olive oil till clear


dump (his words ) onions into first pot.
Cook 3/4 packet of soy chorizo, you can use pork chorizo but I personally like the soy better less fat/oil  and taste as good.
They were out of soy chorizo at the store so I made my own "fake" soy chorizo.
Ok, lets think about this.
I am making a substitute chorizo for a substitute soy chorizo for the original chorizo.
The mind boggles....
To soy "meat" I added every chili spice in my pantry plus veggie broth and marinated it over night.
Cooked it in the pan add some sciraicha and green tabasco sauce, so good,
toss that in the first pot.
ummmmmmm maybe we should name this toss cassoulet instead of dump cassoulet ?
the mind wanders....
squirrel ! (thehamish)


Add 2 bunches of fresh chopped kale, when he can't find kale son adds a bag of frozen mixed veggies.
 Please don't do what I did when I only bought  1 bunch of kale ! bad bad bad !
Stir it up and then in the words of my son, it is written on the recipe card
"Oh Shit! you realize you forgot to add the wine ! pop open the bottle, dump in about 1/4 cup and then take a liberal slip from the bottle for yourself"

Now you can stir it all together.  woohoo !
I added a Cabernet Sauvignon.


Wipe clean the chorizo pan and add chopped bread, olive oil, garlic, chopped fresh sage and a bunch of chopped fresh parsley.
Toss around to toast but be sure not to burn garlic.


Pour it all in a casserole dish and add the bread topping.
Bake  2 (?) hours in a very low oven till bubbling hot but not hot enough to burn topping.
 Some of the bread cubes will soak up the sauce and get all gooey goodness
and some stay nice and crispy !


... intermission...
sweet plants to add to a terrarium,
bought at the market that ran out of the soy chorizo.

Two hours later...
all bubbly goodness from the oven


 Heaven !

Desert... 
1 cup of frozen raspberries 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt  from the frig.
Blend up with an immersion  blender and add small amount of  pretend sugar
or a small amount of powered sugar.
Homemade quick soft serve frozen yogurt.
yum !


cooking. . .parsnip
music. . . Smooth,  Santana
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14 comments:

  1. Hello Gayle:
    Cooking and kitchen are two four letter words to us as we are sure you know. However, if we lived closer then we should have loved to have sampled this delicious looking feast!Can you please tell us in advance next time of your cooking day and we shall arrange plane tickets!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahahahahahaha ! I would cook for you in a second but I know your would like my Arizona sons cooking better. He is a fabulous Indian chef.
      My friend will call me and say... "I am cooking tonight come for dinner" we both don't cook for our self's, after 40 years of 3 meals a day for family, we have left the kitchen !

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  2. Wonderful Cassoulet! I love the pretty dish that it's served on too, and the sweet plants at intermission. :)

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    Replies
    1. It is really easy and so good. Left overs are even better !
      I love those dishes too. I bought then at the Japanese Market that I shopped at when I lived in Laguna Beach. I miss that market !

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  3. Beautiful presentation. I nominated you for being inspiring!

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  4. i love the dessert idea! and the dinner looks pretty danged tasty too! *yert*

    smiles, bee
    xoxoxooxox

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  5. I made one for dinner tonight (Friday)

    Since canned beans and canned broth are hard to come by here (Seriously WTF) I have to change my cooking. I made a special run to the special supermarket to get some beans. The broth is powdered consume and water.

    Ingredients
    200g of ground pork/beef mix - one bag of mixed frozen veggies - two sticks of celery (chopped) - water - dried consume - Italian herb mix - powdered sage (fresh sage is insanely expensive, and that's if I can find it at the expensive supermarket) -red wine (of course) - a can of red beans and a can of white beans - a can of whole peeled tomatoes that I put into the blender.

    Bread Topping
    A baguette from Miyanaga (check my blog from early last year) - olive oil - House brand garlic in a tube

    It came out really good and took much less time than my official one takes. I don't have a real oven either, just a toaster oven on steroids. No photos as I was hungry.

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  6. OOPS! What I meant by "consume" was "コンソメ (consome)"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consomm%C3%A9

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  7. Cassoulet always brings back memeories of staying with my late friend Doreen in Poujols, France. Yum!

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  8. Wanted you to know that Hair Ball picked your name out of the bowl. You won a 15 dollar Amazon card.

    Hugs and chocolate.

    Will email you later.

    ReplyDelete