Special at Cafe Presse today:  Garbure Béarnaise

One of the iconic dishes of the cooking of southwestern France, a garbure is, at its base, a peasant stew of white beans and winter vegetables.  Regional variations abound (Landaise?  Gasconne?) but in the Béarn, garbure is enriched with duck fat, duck and pork confits, panchetta (ventreche de porc in French)  and the ends of air cured ham.

We are currently making plans to feature Garbure Bearnaise on our Winter 2015 menu beginning Thursday January 8.  In the meantime, today we finished our first batch of the season, and it is rich with duck leg and gizzard, pork shoulder, cabbage, turnips and  carrots.  We serve it with grilled country bread and persillade, the classic Béarnais condiment of garlic, parsley, duck fat and olive oil.

Hurry by and try it while the supply lasts.