Rustic French Pork and White Bean Stew (PCP)

• 3 pounds boneless pork butt roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons herbes de Provence
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced 1 inch thick
• 1 fennel bulb, stalks discarded, bulb halved, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 8 ounces (1 1/4 cups) dried cannellini beans, picked over, rinsed, and salt-soaked
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, plus extra as needed

Mise en place.

Brown half the pork.

Obligatory onion softening.

Followed by garlic and Herbes de Provence until fragrant.  Then flour for a minute or so to cook off raw taste.

Deglaze with wine.  Throw it all in (except for lemon juice and parsley) and cook at high pressure for 30 minutes.  Release pressure naturally.

Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Verdict: a pretty good dish.  However, it's French so immediately it's at a disadvantage in my book; it strikes me as a little bit dull.

Pasta with Fried Zucchini and Cannellini in Vinegar Sauce (FM)

• 1 pound zucchini, cut into 1/2 x 3-inch sticks
• Salt
• Olive oil as needed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon garlic
• Black pepper
• 2 cups cooked or canned cannellini or other white beans, drained
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, or to taste
• 8 ounces any pasta, preferably whole wheat
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint, dill, or parsley [I forget what I had here.  I'm thinking parsley?]
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, for serving.

Mise en place.  The zucchini has been salted for 20 minutes and patted dry.

I was not quite happy that olive oil is used to fry the zucchini in this recipe.  A half-inch of it.  Decided to strain it through a coffee filter after this step.

Which was, by the way, wicked dangerous to start off with, but Mark Bittman's recipe didn't state to let the oil come back to temp between batches.

Cook onion and garlic (with some salt and pepper) in 2 tablespoons of the oil until onion begins to softer.

 

Add beans and mash with fork or potato masher until more or less broken up.

Toss everything together and adjust the seasoning.  The dish already seemed totally sad at this point.
Maybe if I had used a full 1/2 cup in general in topping the dish, divided among the servings of course, this dish would've been palatable, but it really shouldn't be that way.

Bittman says that "You don't really see vinegar in pasta dishes too often", but personally I've seen vinegar applied to Italian dishes at least and within Bittman's other cookbooks to much better effect.  I've never seen it used with cannellini beans, and overall the dish struck me as muddled, unspecial, and a waste of olive oil.
Oh well, they can't all be winners.

Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew (CATKTV)

• Table salt
• 1 pound (about 2 cups) dried cannellini beans, picked over and rinsed
• 6 ounces pancetta or bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped medium (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 medium celery ribs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3/4 cup)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
• 8 medium garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 bunch kale or collard greens (about 1 pound), stems trimmed and leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces (about 8 cups loosely packed)
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• Ground black pepper

Mise en place with the beans that were soaked on the higher end of 8 to 12 hour range for this dish.  I think I've soaked beans once overnight.  I usually just skip the process.

Cook bacon in oil until lightly browned and fat has rendered.

Add vegetables and cooked until softened and lightly browned.

Add garlic and stir until fragrant.  Add broth, water, bay leaves, and beans.  Bring this to a simmer and cook in a 250 degree oven until the beans are almost tender.

Add kale and tomatoes.  Cook in the oven again until beans and greens are fully tender.

Remove pot from oven, submerge a sprig of rosemary in the stew, cover, and let stand for 15 minutes.  Remove sprig and bay leaves (I usually just remove bay leaves when I come across them while eating a dish).
The dish hit many of the same pleasure buttons at Top Chef's Stefan's Veal Goulash.  I probably could've cooked the dish a little longer (a problem I seem to be having recently), but I'm not quite sure it's something I'd do again.

White Bean and Sage Tart with Quinoa Crust (HCEV)

• 1 tablespoon neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, plus more for greasing the pan [Decided that the particular cuisine of the variation I selected could certainly stand up to a bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. And it's just less messy to grease a pan with a wrapped stick of butter.]
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• salt
• 2 cups cooked or drained canned white beans [Cannellini struck me as a good choice. Even the name of the beans are Italian.]
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped [Mom gave me an orange one so who needs buying a slightly different pepper. It really doesn't matter THAT much unless you're attempting to substitute a significantly more bitter green bell pepper for the sweeter varieties. Or of course, vice versa.]
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary or thyme, or about 1/2 teaspoon dried [I was just about to vent about the fact that I forgot I somehow don't own dried rosemary and went "DOH" when I read the thyme part. I wound up using some Herbes de Provence. Decidedly not Italian, but at least it contains both of those herbs.]
• 3/4 cup cream, vegetable stock, bean-cooking liquid, or water [Used some chicken stock I had open in the fridge. I'm not a vegetarian; so, sue me.]
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen are fine; don't bother to thaw)
• 3 egg yolks

Oh, quinoa, clearly it doesn't take much more than me trying to open the glass jar my roommate Staci Z keeps you in to propel you ALL OVER my work space.


Mise en place at this stage in the game.


The quinoa blackened long before I noted any golden-browning going on.


After reading Bittman's intro to the recipe again, I guess it would've been faster to drag out my food processor for the first time since moving at the end of January. Probably would've been easier to gauge consistency as well, but blenders are easier to clean.
Oh, while separating the yolks out for the dish, I unthinkingly cracked a whole egg into the blender. Managed to scoop most of the white out with my hands eventually. Thankfully this isn't a dish that is broken by traces of egg white (I think a recent MMB recipe I read stressed the importance of this but I forget which one by now).


First attempt at a tart. Cooked quinoa pressed into some odd tart pan I found in the cupboards. Isn't it supposed to be fluted from top to bottom?


Not much to be said about my presentation at this juncture.


My first bain-marie. Taking my definition from Epicurious.com this time because the Wiki just confused me:

The French call this cooking technique bain marie . It consists of placing a container (pan, bowl, soufflé dish, etc.) of food in a large, shallow pan of warm water, which surrounds the food with gentle heat. The food may be cooked in this manner either in an oven or on top of a range. This technique is designed to cook delicate dishes such as custards, sauces and savory mousses without breaking or curdling them. It can also be used to keep cooked foods warm.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com:80/tools/fooddictionary/entry/#ixzz1pubMMhTr

Looks more like a blob than a tart on the plate. Tastes pretty good. Maybe it'll firm up in the fridge a bit more.