Lentillette au porc salé (Lentils with salt porc)

This is one of my go-to recipes nowadays, it's so creamy and delicious. At the moment I can only get salt pork in the fall and winter months, which is fine since this is such a calorie-dense meal, it's meant for winter consumption.

Servings : 4

8 oz salt pork ⅔ cut in small cubes, ⅓ cut in matchsticks
1 onion, finely chopped
4 oz to 1 lb winter squash (or carrots or other firm, sweet veg)
1 ⅓ cup du Puy lentils
½ cup red wine
2 ⅔ cups beef or mutton stock
1 bouquet garni of 2 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves, 6 stems parsley (optional: 2 sprigs sage)
2 oz grated parmesan
¼ cup crème fraiche (or heavy cream)
Crusty bread, to serve.

1. Blanch the pork for about 4 minutes to remove some of the saltiness. Pat dry and let cool enough to handle.
2. Make the bouquet garni by tying together the herbs - also remove the leaves from the parsley stems, chop fine and set aside.
3. Once the pork has cooled, chop into big matchsticks. 
4. Cook the pork in a saucepan until starting to brown. Remove ⅓ and set aside. 
5. To the remaining pork in the pan, add the onion and the squash and cook just until soft. 
6. Add the lentils and continue cooking another 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
7. Add the wine and allow it to evaporate completely.
8. Add the stock and the bouquet garni, along with the parsley stems. Bring to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, until the lentils are cooked (about 30 minutes). 
9. When cooked the lentils should still hold their form and not have become mush and most of the liquid in the pan should be gone.
10. Remove the bouquet garni.
11. Stir in the parmesan and the cream. Plate the lentils and garnish with the finely chopped parsley leaves, the bacon matchsticks, and some freshly ground black pepper.
12. Serve with crusty bread and something fresh or vinegary like pickled beets.

Aligot (Sort Of) - Mashed Potato and Gruyère

Aligot is a dish from the monks of Aubrac, France, which features the humble potato and lovely cheese. The traditional cheese is a "Tome d'Aubrac"; I yet have to experience this cheese, but from online references, it appears that Gruyère cheese is a suitable substitute, and I do like my Gruyère! Apart from the cheese substitution, this is a completely bastardized version - I use a third of the cheese listed traditional recipes, which makes for cream mashed potatoes with a strong cheese flavour - oh, so good!

2 lbs potatoes (preferably old potatoes, which are best for mashing)
½ cup (4oz/114gr) butter
1 cup crème fraîche (for mildness) or Greek yoghurt (for a little tang)
⅔ cup grated Gruyère, about 2 oz (or 2 cups for traditional version)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed

1. Peel and boil the potatoes until thoroughly cooked (about 12 minutes, depending on size). If you have a vegetable mill, run the potatoes through this, or press with a spoon through a sieve (you can add the butter and crème fraîche and do an initial mash to make the potatoes more liquid, which helps with this part if you're doing it by hand). Do not use a food processor - you'll end up with potato glue; a little texture is good in this recipe.
2. (If you haven't already) Add the butter and crème fraîche.
3. Put the potato mixture in a pan and slowly add the cheese, mixing constantly, until the cheese is all added.
4. Meanwhile, add the salt, pepper and pressed garlic.
5. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cheese has completely melted.
6. (If using the traditional volume of cheese, cook until the mixture stretches in a thick rope when you lift the spoon out of the pan - this is the sign that it's ready. Do not overheat or heat too long as this effect will cease.)

The Day After
If you have leftovers, add an egg or two depending on how much you have, and shape into patties to fry up on the stove. You can also add flour at a rate of 1 part flour for every 2 parts Aligot; this helps the patty keep its shape when the butter and cheese in the dish heat up and melt.

Pear and Chocolate Tart

It is extraordinary that there is no additional sugar added to this tart. I admit that we tend to like less sweet desserts, and if you do, I'd recommend sprinkling a tablespoon of sugar on top after the initial 10 minutes of baking.

Part 1 - the pie crust

1 cup (150g) flour
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
½ cup (4oz/114gr) butter, cut into pieces
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp + cold water

1. Follow the instructions for the Pie Crust, but substitute the vanilla for 1 egg yolk and be careful about the amount of water you add to avoid having a wet dough. 
2. Put the crust to chill for at least 15 minutes.

Part 2 - the filling

4 oz/114g 70% dark chocolate, chopped fine
3 to 4 pears cut in half, peeled and cored
1 egg
1 egg yolk
½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. After chilling the crust, sprinkle in the chopped chocolate, and arrange the pear halves, cut-side down, to fill the crust as completely as possible, most easily accomplished if arranged in an attractive flower pattern.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the egg, yolk, cream and vanilla to make a simple custard.
4. Use a spoon to pour the custard mix evenly over the pears so that they have all been wet by the liquid - this will help them brown nicely. 
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350°F and cook an additional 25 to 30 minutes.
6. If the pears have not caramelized, put under the broiler until they do.

Spicy Italian Sausage and Kale Pasta

Yes, kale. As an easy-to-grow cold weather vegetable, it's worthwhile for us to try to find ways of making this tough, strong-tasting vegetable palatable. I've found that strong flavours can achieve this goal. In this instance, the sausage has a strong flavor and is robust enough in texture to balance the kale.

12 oz hot Italian sausage
8 oz kale leaves, massaged and thinly sliced
6 large garlic cloves (30g) coarsely chopped
3 Tbsps olive oil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
2 cups chicken stock
1 lb Rotini pasta (or use your favorite chunky pasta)

½ cup Pasta Water
¼ tsp salt
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan; squeeze sausage out of casings and crumble into the pan, cooking until the sausage is nicely browned. Turn the heat down.
2. Meanwhile, wash and massage the kale and cut into thin slices.
3. Add the garlic and hot pepper flakes and cook for about a minute, then add the kale. Cook until the kale is all wilted, stirring constantly to prevent garlic from browning.  Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer, leaving the pan uncovered. This will increase the flavour by concentrating the liquid and further contributing to browning.
4. Now, start the water for the pasta and bring to a boil. The kale needs lots of time to soften while cooking. NOTE: Save ½ cup pasta cooking water, then drain pasta.
5. Add the cooked pasta to the sausage/kale mixture, adding as much pasta cooking water as you think you need for it to be moist enough.  Add the Parmesan cheese and serve hot, garnished with extra Parmesan cheese.

Dessert Crackers with Custard and Blackberries

What happy things accidents can be! I've been trying to find an easy and 'perfect' way of baking little tart shells because I wanted to make Lucie's Buttertarts for Linda for her birthday. I still haven't succeeded in making the little shells (an ongoing project until I can crack the code, sans the troublesome pie weights), but one of the accidents in my attempts was that they just baked into flaky delicious disks. The following is what I made with them.

1 recipe Cookie Pie Crust

2 recipes Pastry Cream

80 to 90 blackberries

¼ cup chopped 70% dark chocolate

1. Start the Cookie Pie Crust to make the dessert cracker base.
2. While the dough is cooling, prepare the Pastry Cream up to step 5, then set aside.
3. When you've rolled out the dough, cut into disks - I use the top of a standard round plastic container, like a yoghurt container lid, for my cutting shape.
4. Arrange the disks on a large cookie sheet to blind bake, as per the instructions in the recipe, except lightly place a second cookie sheet on top. This will prevent the dough from puffing up excessively. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the top cookie sheet and bake another 5 minutes or until the crackers start to lightly brown.
5. Allow the crackers to cool completely. 
6. Finish the Pastry Cream by following step 6 of the recipe which is to whisk in the heavy cream.
7. Assemble the crackers by evenly distributing the Pastry Cream in dollops onto the crackers; arrange the blackberries on top of the cream and lightly press into the cream.
8. In a double boiler melt the chocolate and drizzle lightly over the loaded crackers. 
9. You can either wait for the chocolate to set, or serve with the chocolate still semi-liquid. 
10. Have napkins at the ready - it's easy to get smeared with the chocolate!

Crème pâtissière - Pastry Cream

I've seen other pastry cream recipes call for whipped cream instead of liquid cream. I've tried this, and it is a tasty variation but it also changes the texture, making it much lighter. In most of the recipes I use this for, a thicker, more unctuous texture is preferable.

1 cup milk
2 tsps. vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
¼ cup (50g) sugar
2 Tbsps. (16g) flour
¼ cup heavy cream (option: whipped cream)

1. Put the milk in a saucepan. Heat to a simmer, remove from heat, add vanilla, cover, and set aside to cool about 10 minutes. 
2. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until pale, then whisk in the flour. 
3. Gradually whisk the milk into the sweet egg mixture. 
4. Pour this back into the saucepan and, whisking constantly, bring to a boil, turn off the heat and cook, whisking, one minute. Remove from the heat. 
5. Strain into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to cool. 
6. When chilled, stream the cream in and mix with whisk until smooth.
7. OR, if you want a lighter cream, first whip the cream then gently fold in.

Pommes de terre en omelette (Potato omelette)

Although this is a simple recipe, it requires about an hour to complete, since each ingredient can only be cooked when the previous is done. It is a delicious brunch item.

A few strips of bacon (4oz/120gr) cut into lardons or paper clip-size pieces
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter 
1 onion, chopped (6oz/170gr)
1 clove garlic, chopped
Splash of balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter (yes, another one)
4 medium potatoes (about 2lbs), peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
5 eggs
½ tsp salt
Pepper, to taste

1. Heat a cast iron pan at a medium-high temperature. Cook the bacon until just starting to brown. With a slotted spoon, remove the meat and reserve in a medium sized bowl.
2. Lower the temperature to medium, add a Tbsp of butter, and slowly cook the onion until soft and translucent. This will take a while, maybe something like 20 minutes. For the last minute of cooking, add the garlic. Strain out and add to the bacon bowl for set aside.
3. Splash the balsamic vinegar in the hot oil and cook until the spitting and bubbling almost ceases - this is when most of the extra water will have been cooked away.
4. Add the potatoes with another Tbsp of butter and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until it is soft and starts to brown.
5. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, add the salt and pepper.
6. When the potatoes are cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove from the pan and pop into the bowl with the bacon and onion. Pour out all but 1 or 2 Tbsps. of bacon fat. 
7. Put the bacon, onion and potato back in the pan, stir to mix well, and then pour the egg on top, settling everything with the back of the spoon to make an even surface. 
8. Cover and cook at a low temperature until the egg sets, but the surface remains a little soft or runny or, conversely, cover and bake in the oven at 350°F until set.
9. Serve with cornbread muffins and a fresh salad or pickled onions and beets.