This week's French Garden recipe

People who know me would tell you that it's hard to tell which I like more: gardening or cooking. I'd say it depends on which I'm doing at the moment. Anyway, French cooking and French gardening go hand in hand. For me, cooking is an on-going adventure. Join me here on my culinary explorations, where I share with you both my old favorites as well as new inspirations. It's my fondest wish that these recipes serve as a springboard for your own new creations.

02/14/2008
Daube of winter vegetables (Légumes d'hiver en daube)   Clay pot 

Ingredients:

For 4 servings: 

4 carrots
4 leeks, white and pale green parts only
1 small green cabbage, or half a large one
4 medium yellow-fleshed potatoes
2 1/4" thick slices old-fashioned slab bacon, skin removed, cut into thin strips
1 T. olive oil
1/4 c. water or stock
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Heat a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Cut the cabbage into wedges and dump it into the boiling water.  Immediately start counting 5 minutes; drain and reserve.

Slowly heat the olive oil and bacon in a daubière on top of the stove using a flametamer over medium heat. When the bacon starts to bubble, continue cooking 5 minutes, then add the other ingredients, starting with the leeks, then carrots and potatoes, and finally the cabbage.  Pour over the stock or water.  Add just a pinch of salt (you don't know how salty the bacon is) and some freshly ground black pepper.  Cover the daubière, making sure to fill the reservoir in the lid with water.  Reduce the heat to low and cook approximately two hours.  Correct the seasoning and serve directly from the daubière.

Note:  This delicious dish depends on the best quality for its humble ingredients:  fresh, organic vegetables and the absolutely best slab bacon you can find.  The slow daube cooking will transform the dish into much more than the sum of its parts.  (A daubière is a heavy clay pot-bellied pot with a hollow lid.) These are vegetables even Denis loves!

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Products of Interest:
Provençal daubière

Try some of our past French garden recipes:

Appetizers and small dishes

Basics

Beef, pork, lamb, and veal