woensdag 4 juni 2008

Nog meer bonen


Thanks P.M. (who is a botanicus, hence the writing. En Frans, dus tekst in Franglais).
My remarks in bold, except for the title.
Weer een soort erwtensoep, lijkt me. Of is het iets heel anders? Komt overigens uit Normandië.

Purée de pois cassés aux saucisses de Toulouse.
Spliterwten-puree dus.
Ingredients (for 6 persons or 4 Frenchies or 1 only for 2 days)
* 500 grs of dryed Pisum sativum seeds (pois cassés) Spliterwten dus
* 2 caulinar tubercles of Solanum tubersosum (mid-sized potatoes)
* 2 big Allium cepa (onion)
* ca. 90 grs of butter
* 6 saucisses de Toulouse (verse worst, zeg maar) (or a vegetarian equivalent)
* 25 to 50 grs of flour of Triticum aestivum (bloem)
* grey salt (natrium) (komt dat grijze zeezout weer terug, zie volgende recept!)
* fine white salt (natrium)
* powder of white (=old berries of) Piper nigrum (witte peper)
* leaf of Petroselinum sativum (peterselie)



Saucisses de Toulouse (Normandisch?)

Préparation:
Wash the pois cassés with cold water. (Niet weken??)
Put them in a broad casserole, with the potatoes cut into small cubes and one onion sliced into small lamelles (schijfjes).
Add a few grey salt and white pepper. Fill up the casserole with fresh, soft water.
Bring it to boiling but slowly. (mijoter; sudderen).
Keep the casserole open (uncovered) at first for ca. 30 min.
During this time take a poêle (steelpan), put 30 grs of butter, some fine salt and melt all to make a "friture"
With a fork, make holes in the saucisses and put them in the above "friture". On high heat, cook them until they release their fat and get a fried skin. (ca. 8 min)
Once correctly cooked, put the saucisses in a plate, and keep warm.



Peel and cut finely the second onion, and cook it in the kept above "friture" + fat of the saucisses. Don't burn them too much. Make them blondin (they get a goldy tint, stay firm in texture and sweet to the taste).
Add finely the flour during the process to get a "sauce à l'oignon". Add some water if necessary, and/or a bouillon, but the whole sauce must stay rather thick and not liquid.

At this time, close the casserole containing pois cassés and make them boiling stronger until pois and potatoes are cooked enough to turn into nearly purée. This takes usually 10 to 20 min according to your former mijotage (stoven).
You may need to add again some water, but be careful: don't add too much otherwise you'll never get a purée but just a liquid for untoothed seniors. If in counterpart you add too few, you will get only vegetal concrete and you'll need a chainsaw to cut it ;o)

Once ok, mix finely the whole content of the casserole without forgetting to add 60grs of butter.



In a plate, put some purée de pois cassés (it must have a clear-kaki green color), add a leaf of Petroselinum sativum on it, put a sausage near to the purée and add some sauce à l'oignon on the saucisse.
Add (or not) some more fine salt and /or pepper at your convenience in the purée, but the sausage and the sauce à l'oignon are usually salted enough.
Serve your friends (or yourself) a glass of common white wine, sec or demi-sec and Bon appétit !

Believe me : for an instant, life is better with this good food.

P.M.'s Tips :
1) Most of the French Grand chefs usually add a carot (root-tuber of Daucus carota) in the purée :this is -to me- completely in vain since the Allium cepa (onion) already is here to add sweetness to the plat.
Moreover, the carrot wastes the very subtle taste (nut-like when well cooked) of the Pisum.
2) It is often advised to add 1 dL of white wine during the cooking, be it in the purée or in the sauce à l'oignon. Here again, I find that unnecessary for the same reason as above, and I find it much wiser to serve the wine as an accompaniment of the platter.
3) if you have children or difficult people (usually those who don't like vegetable's taste, add 15 to 20 dl of crème fraîche in the purée. This soften the taste.
4) to keep your sausages warm, when waiting for the pois to be cooked, I put the plate in my micro-wave (but do not turn it on, except if your are in winter). Otherwise, put a leaf of aluminum on, and put the plate in your greenhouse ;o)
5) while waiting for the pois to be ready, and once the sausages are cooked, take benefit of this time to clean and wash the kitchen tools you do not need anymore.
6) for vegetarians, of course remove the sausages and replace them by a vegetable equivalent.



Jambonneau

Enjoy,