Rabbit Cassoulet
**Disclaimer: do not be intimidated by the rabbit. You can also make this dish with a rotisserie chicken if locally sourcing and roasting a whole rabbit isn’t in your game plan for the week. Traditional cassoulet also frequently uses sausage.
Here we are with Protein #2 in our Protein Trio and it’s a bit of a non-standard one. (If you missed Protein #1, I highly recommend you check out the hot honey chicken post). We don’t often cook rabbit but… we totally should! It is more delicate than chicken with more flavor, but still not too gamey. Here in the area, Whiffletree Farm frequently has whole rabbits but this particular rabbit we got pre-cooked at Sumac. I do adore rabbit cassoulet and I adore Sumac, so when I saw it on the menu I had to order it as one of our beautiful, locally-sourced small plates for lunch that day. Yet when Chef Dan came marching out to our little picnic bench in the sun ready to delivery the rabbit cassoulet, he came with an entire rabbit! The menu was not clear… I now understood the price tag on the dish. Obviously, we were stuffed having just finished a meal thinking this was the final course, so we wrapped up the rabbit, roasted delicately over open flame, and picked it apart the following day for this Sunday cassoulet.
Now let’s talk about cassoulet. It is one of those traditional French dishes that Americans like to try to make bougie. We serve it up in our Michelin starred restaurants with a unique protein like rabbit not understanding that a cassoulet is nothing more than a bean soup featuring whatever protein you can get your hands on. It can stew all day or come together quite quickly. Nevertheless, cassoulets are hearty and Fall-ish, and I am thrilled to have this one on my table.
what you need
4 cups dried kidney beans, soaked overnight
3 strips of thick bacon
2 large shallots, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups Swiss chard, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup white wine
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
6 cups vegetable broth
2 cups roasted rabbit or chicken, shredded (*you can also use a local sausage in a cassoulet)
1/2 cup good parmesan cheese
Dried oregano, thyme, salt, and crushed red pepper
how to make it
Prepare the beans. Rinse the raw kidney beans until water runs clear. Place 1 minced shallot and 2 cloves of minced garlic in a pan and sauté over medium heat until fragrant. Add the beans, oregano, thyme, crushed red peppers, and salt to taste, and stir. Add five cups of vegetable broth, cover, and simmer until the beans are tender al dente (still holding their form well). This should take ~90 minutes but it can take up to three hours depending on how long the beans soaked and the nature of the simmer. Stir them once every 30 minutes and check the liquid levels. You may need to add more water as the beans cook.
When the beans are finished and the rabbit or chicken is roasted, you are ready to assemble your cassoulet.
Prepare the cassoulet. Heat a Dutch oven or large cast iron skillet on the stove over medium heat. Chip up the bacon and cook it directly in the pan until almost cooked through. Then add the minced shallot, minced garlic, and more crushed red peppers into the fat from the bacon, stirring continually for 1-2 minutes.
Add the substance to the cassoulet. Deglaze the pan with the half cup of white wine. Then add the Dijon mustard, four cups of the cooked beans with a little of their juices, and the cup of vegetable broth. Sprinkle with dried herbs and salt, and bring to a steady simmer. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes, then add the shredded rabbit and Swiss chard. Simmer for 5-7 minutes more. Remove from heat when there are still some juices left in the bottom and the chard is fully wilted.
Serve. Taste for salt and seasoning. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve over brown rice or barley, or with a few slices of thick, crispy bread.
Moroccan Tagine
I have been SO excited to release this post!!! Why? Because this is your new weeknight dinner. It will impress your family, fill your stomach, warm your heart, and make your house smell like North African spices. I started making tagine years ago when I first moved to DC and came across a tagine in World Market. I was instantly and aesthetically intrigued, and purchased the thing on the spot not having a clue what I would do with it. Well… figured that one out. A tagine is the OG slow cooker. And whatever you put inside – lamb, chicken, chickpeas, rabbit, potatoes – you will taste the spicy exoticism. If you don’t have a tagine, no worries. You can make it in a Dutch oven, stovetop or, yes, in a slow cooker. And before you think this is just chicken slow roasted in tomato sauce… keep reading…
Indispensable Chili
Every year I make a New Year’s resolution and 2017 was the year of the cacao nib. While I appreciate a good office-party chili cookoff as much as the next, to me, chili is one of those sacred things that just should not be fucked with. Don’t try to make it fancy. Just make it good. So, here, basic, indispensable, chili.
Pot Roast
This is the main course for the Whiskey Pairing Dinner and, my, what a deep, flavorful pot roast this is! Let me start by saying that I sourced a 4.6 pound chuck roast from the Spring House Farm Store to feed the four of us and had no regrets. A simple pot roast is easy enough to pull off especially if you have a slow cooker, but this really takes the flavor profile up a notch to make this velvety, sinful, fall-off-your-fork roast with plenty of fall veggies.
Beef Stew
I know it isn’t exactly stew season (August) but I’ve had stew beef from the meat shack (Springhouse Farm Store) for a hot minute and stew needed to be made. Beef Stew is also not the most photogenic main course but man is it satisfying. So here it is – a quintessential, traditional, hearty, beautiful Beef Stew.
Broccoli Soup
This is a lighter but still very hearty take on broccoli cheddar soup, with a hint of extra cheese and crunch added in a floating cheesy crouton, like the sourdough hat on French Onion soup. If you’re skeptical that a bowl of broccoli soup can suffice for a full meal, give this one a try.
Vegetable Stew and Simple Croutons
I was today-years-old when I discovered croutons. Obviously, I’ve had a crouton before but I’ve certainly never made one or put them in anything. Well that’s all about to change. Before any of you get intimidated and think that a garnishment like a crouton is far too fancy for you to whip up on a weekday soup night, let me explain exactly how unfussy and zero frills this whole crouton business is. Aside from fantasizing about all the fall of soups in which these croutons are to find themselves in short order, this winter root vegetable stew is precisely the thing your overflowing CSA bag calls for. When you’ve got too many turnips, carrots, potatoes, and a sack full of random winter greens, this is the soup you make. And don’t scrimp on the croutons.
