Pork & Beans- a very faux cassoulet

When the Diva, Judy Witts asked me ‘what are you making for supper?’ I was almost embarrassed to say not Cassoulet. And when she suggested that we post a ‘come one, come all’ let’s cook together on our ongoing, occasional Whole Hog blog, I realized that a simple ‘you too can do this tonight’ version of French Pork & Beans was the answer. When not cooking a full-blown Camp Cassoulet version (see the official... Read More

Mondays with Matt in Hog Heaven

Keeping the French Kitchen in full-on Adventure mode takes more than writing blogs, cookbooks and recipes. It takes hours of real work around ‘the Gascon Ranch’– to weed, seed and tend the 3600 sq.feet potager; plot, plant and primp the Kitchen Herbier and salad bar; sow, mow and manicure 2-plus acres of grassy park. Now, add helping with cooking classes, doing dishes and babysitting Bacon…and you are beginning to get the picture.... Read More

Camp Cassoulet- post script point

Time to plant a few seeds for next year.I stopped at the grainèterie yesterday on the way home from Bacon’s birthday checkup- 46 kilos and still growing.I bought 200 grams of petit pois and fava beans to plant in the potager now;3 dozen crocus bulbs for the ‘champs elysees’ between the Relais and the Barge;a few dozen Japanese iris to fill in the T-Jardin. Then I spotted this one, singular goofy colored package of…you guessed... Read More