Cooking with Confit

It's a long time since I blogged, but somehow I just couldn't get round to it. I have had rather a sore back for a couple of weeks now and no matter how many times you tell yourself that there are a lot of people worse off than you, it doesn't seem to help. When I am unwell all I want to do is go home, then I remember I am home. Very strange but I suppose I will get used to it.

Today we went for a "Cooking with Confit" day and it was really interesting. We cooked 4 traditional french meals from around this region, they were Potee de Gascogne, also known as Garbure. This is basically a cabbage soup with dried beans, carrots, turnips, garlic, onion, belly pork, pepper, potatoes confit duck legs or any other part of the duck that you have had the chance to confit. Basically a fantastic soup best taken with a red Madiran or Cahors wine. Then it was Cassoulet, a rich bean and meat stew that is so filling it is really a meal in itself. This can be made in large batches and put in kilner jars and steralised and put down, just like the confit of duck. Another french fast food, so when the farmers come in from the fields, there is instant meal for them, rich nourishing and very tasty. This meal can take literally a day to cook and prepare with the soaking of the beans etc, and after this one, our teacher showed us the way to do a quick cassoulet. Then it was Confit with petits pois and ending with Confit aux Cepes. A very good day and we all learned a lot. We all had to bring something along for the bring and share lunch and today I made a cut and come again cake, a family favourite of ours and it seemed to go down well.

It was a lovely day again and after we had finished the cooking part, we went for a guided walk around the grounds to show us what could be picked from hedgerows and fields to make salads etc. I would love to have the knowledge of foraging, and once picked have the nerve to eat it. There is so much "free" food out there and how lovely for the children and grandchildren to go out into the garden and lanes and pick and eat your lunch. Sadly it doesn't happen much any more does it? I did learn about a few more plants today though which is good. While we were walking round the garden the donkeys came to say hello and I was going to take a photo of them, but as you can see, he became just a little too nosey in what I was doing!!