Gnocchi alla Romana is a wonderfully comforting dish.  Bubbling and crispy with cheese on the outside, soft and rich inside, it makes a fantastic side dish with a roasted leg of lamb or even as the center of the plate with grilled asparagus.  It was also a trademark dish for my mother-in-law, Marianne, who almost always served it with a thick sirloin steak, grilled to perfection by Bill, her husband, on his faithful Weber Kettle. I wheedled the recipe out of Marianne after my first taste and have made it many times since.

Here in Orthez, grits are not readily available, so it has been a number of years since we’ve had it. However, I recently got the bug to give it a try using the course polenta  made from the Béarnais corn variety called Grand Roux Basque – see my earlier post for more info on this local specialty.  The results were pretty darn good, although slightly different from the original;  the Grand Roux Basque cornmeal is nuttier and more finely ground than grits, so the gnocchi were more robustly flavored (a plus) and a bit softer (a minus).  All in all, I’d call it a success that deserves further refinement.

For the recipe, I can offer no better than that written by Marianne herself, pictured below.  This original recipe card is a bit of a family heirloom, which I have preserved carefully.  Enjoy!

A recent inventory of my freezer revealed a significant number of chicken livers, the result of my inability to waste anything that can be later turned into something yummy!  To explain, each time I buy a whole chicken, the carcass, heart and gizzards all go into stock.  Chicken livers, on the other hand, are no good for stock, as they will make it bitter and cloudy.  So I save them up, tightly wrapped, in the freezer, until I have enough to make chicken liver mousse, a favorite around here.

This is not so much a recipe as a general discussion, as chicken liver mousse adapts well to improvisation and ingredient substitutions.

This recipe, featuring the snap of yogurt, is inspired by a recipe from the excellent Vancouver BC restaurant Vig’s.  The very simple curry sauce works well also with chickpeas, diced sweet potato or winter squash, and also makes a great accompaniment to a poached whitefish filet, like cod or halibut.

Serves 4

In his book “The Unprejudiced Palate” (which is part personal history, part practical garden and kitchen guide, part cookbook, and all a fun and interesting read), Dr. Angelo Pellegrini says that soft polenta in Italy has roughly the same relationship to pasta as brown country bread has to the baguette in France: it is what everyone ate as a daily staple until the industrial revolution made the more highly processed replacement product widely available. Cheap, filling and warming, cornmeal porridge was the ideal peasant food.

Although it is most often associated with Italy, it is also found in the cuisines of southern France, where the growing of corn has a a long history.  Near us, in the French Basque countries, the organic farmer’s cooperative Arto Gorria has brought back the production of Grand Roux Basque corn.  This heirloom field-corn varietal, known for its multicolored ears, with variations from gold to red to maroon to almost brown, is milled into corn flour and course polenta meal.

This easy recipe is excellent made with Grand Roux Basque polenta meal, which give the polenta a nutty, whole grain flavor. But works as well with any organic polenta. Very simple and very rich at the same time, creamy polenta is great served with a hearty winter beef stew, or as I did, with pork cheeks simmered with vermouth, rosemary and fennel.

This take on the Italian favorite bruschetta came about as a way to use leftover grilled vegetables.  I had grilled fish filets with summer veggies and had veggies left over.  Of course, you can start from scratch but it seems like a lot of work for what was, for us, a light summer supper.

The weather took a cold turn recently here in Orthez; after several weeks of hearing the weatherman say we were having June weather in April, now it has turned March cold. This chilly spell put me in mind to make something simmered and comforting.

So in passing by the butcher’s shop in the market Saturday, I spotted  a really good looking piece of stewing beef called a palette de bœuf, several inches thick and plenty to serve 4 people. The palette is roughly the equivalent of a blade roast, a bone-in cut cut from the shoulder. It is a piece that definitely needs slow, long cooking; it has plenty of collagen and fat so that it will stay rich and moist as it cooks, and like many of the so-called “lesser cuts” of beef, it is full of flavor.

The basic method of this recipe (marinate/sear/”singer” with flour/braise/finish sauce) can be used with success with many types of stewing meat and with many variations.    Feel free to experiment with ingredients you have on hand. You may discover your new signature dish!

Note the amount of beef used may seem like a lot but remember that during 1) this is bone in weight and 2) slow cooking, the meat shrinks and 3) hey, leftovers!

This is  a recipe that I recently cooked for a tasting at O Panier Local, the cooperative farm store here in Orthez where I work as a volunteer. The idea was to present an easy dish for the Holidays made primarily with local produce from the store. This inspired me to add local butternut squash to my standard hummus recipe and I really liked the result (note that other ingredients sold in the store include chickpeas, garlic, olive oil and pomegranates.

For the tasting, I offered this hummus canape-style, on toasted bread with pomegranate seeds and toasted walnuts. But we like to make it the center of a meal by topping it with marinated lamb cubes sauteed in olive oil.

The arrival of quince is a landmark of late fall:  quince are traditionally the last tree fruit of the year to show up on the farm stands, usually in mid to late November. So they have for me an association with the holidays of the end of the year.  This may be, in part, because quince pair well with game, mushrooms, goose, duck and foie gras, all of which show up on French Christmas and New Years menus.

Here in the Béarn, duck is finally becoming available again (and more affordable!) after a number of lean years due to the Bird Flu.  Since late summer, the new vaccine for Bird Flu is in widespread use here, the heart of French duck and foie gras production.  I am hopeful that I will once again be able to make a terrine of duck foie gras for Christmas.

While quince is often used in desserts, jams and compotes, this recipe features it in a savory preparation.  The pairing with rosemary helps bring out the floral flavor of the quince.

Paula Wolfert called this dish “one of the great combinations of Moroccan cookery”, and its hard to argue with her.  Its a very satisfying dish indeed, especially when made with the legs of older, free-range farm chickens, full of flavor.  And be sure to use lemons you have preserved yourself (see my recipe for preserved lemons here). This is also the perfect dish to cook in an earthenware tagine dish.  The very slow cooking, combined with the tagine’s ability to circulate the steaming juices, yields chicken that is completely tender and almost silken in its wonderful moist texture.

Credit where due, this recipe is based on the one Wolfert gives in her book “Couscous and other good food from Morrocco”.

Tiny violet artichokes are one of the joys of late spring.  The pale green new leaves are tender enough to eat whole, especially if slowly braised.  Pairing them with rich, meaty pork cheeks simmered in Normandy apple cider, is a sure winner; the region of Normandy is known for pork, apples and artichokes so it is a natural pairing,  This recipe is short on specifics because making a good stew doesn’t require specifics, you just follow your nose.

PORK CHEEKS BRAISED IN CIDER WITH VIOLET ARTICHOKE

1. The day before, marinate the pork cheeks with Normandy apple cider to just cover and a splash of apple cider vinegar.  Add carrots, onions and garlic, peeled and cut in medium dice. Add a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, a few peppercorns and a clove or two.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. Trim the artichokes, leaving only the inner, light green leaves. If the artichokes are small, it is not necessary to remove the inner choke. As the artichokes are trimmed, put them into water acidified with vinegar or lemon juice to keep them from browning.
   
3. In a heavy, lidded dutch oven, sear off the artichokes in a little vegetable oil and butter until they are nicely colored on all sides and starting to get tender in the stem.  The leaves will still be tough. Season with salt and pepper, then remove and set aside.
   
4. Drain the pork cheeks, separating out the cheeks, the marinade vegetables and the marinade liquid.
5. Season the cheeks with salt and pepper, then coat lightly with flour. Sear off the cheeks in the same dutch oven with fresh oil and butter until nicely colored on all sides. Remove the cheeks and drain most of the oil, then add the veggies and sweat for several minutes until they start to soften.  Return the cheeks to the pan. De-glaze with the marinade, adding more cider as needed for the liquid to just cover the meat and veggies (or use chicken or pork stock to top up the liquid if you have it).
6. Bring to a boil, skim off any foam that forms, then reduce the heat to the slowest simmer.  Cover and continue to cook on very low heat or in a 250 degree oven.  Cook until the pork cheeks are very tender, 2-3 hours.
7. If you like, add a little heavy cream or crème fraîche for richness (not strictly necessary but delicious!). Season the stew with salt and pepper, then add the seared artichokes and continue to simmer until they are tender.  Correct the seasoning as needed, then finish the sauce by stirring in a knob of cold butter off the heat and stirring until fully incorporated.
   
8. Enjoy!  I served this with rustic potato puree (basically boiled potatoes crushed with salt, pepper, cold butter and a splash of heavy cream) but buttered egg noodles would be great also.