1. time to cook cook cook
2. a really roaring fire in the ancient 2-meter wide cheminée kicking out lots of BTUs
3. long simmering braised cuts of good farm raised meat like shoulder, neck and shank
4. bay, thyme and parsley perfuming a simmering wine sauce for civet
5. local red wine like Elian DaRoz’s Chant Coucou
6. guilt free bowls of steaming spicy hot chocolate
7. tiny marble-sized brussel sprouts, as sweet as sugar drops steamed and rolled in salted butter
8. a desire to share hot food with friends
9. happy hens laying 10 eggs a day
10. leftover cassoulet with an egg broken poached on top for lunch

Cooking is different in winter. Shorter sauces long simmered. Meat closer to the bone. Days that lengthen and grow encouraging a later supper. Cooking in winter after the holiday extravaganzas is leaner but still redolent of what draws us close in to the table- silky mouth feel, satisfying, and filling hot food.

Draw close, my friends as we gather new energy for a series of late winter food. Based on farm fresh products, seasonally available now, we begin with a few recipes that are Gascon kitchen standards. Consider the egg as the beginning…