Wintry delights

Despite the fact that the weather isn't very Wintry, I've still been moved to cook a ton of Winter-type dishes.  I cooked coq au vin the other night, and it was really fun to make and really delicious.  I butchered the chicken myself for the first time using my new poulty shears and directions from "All About Braising" by Molly Stevens.  It was pretty easy and very satisfying.  The grossest part was crunching through the bones on both sides of the backbone.  I used the excess fat on the chicken to make some schmaltz, which I am keeping in a jar in my fridge in anticipation of making chopped liver in a few weeks.

Here's Julia Child's recipe for coq au vin.  I consulted this, but ultimately used Molly Steven's recipe.  I used bacon instead of lardons, and I didn't have cognac, so I used wine to deglaze the pan.  I have to get a bottle of cooking cognac so I can light the chicken on fire next time!

Last night I made a variation on a soup using dried cranberry beans from my Marcella Hazan book.  Sautee an onion and some bacon or pancetta until golden.  Throw in chopped whatever you have on hand.  I had purchased kohlrabi at the farmer's market and didn't know what to do with it, so I peeled it and chopped it and threw it in, along with some mustard greens I had sitting around. Throw in a can of plum tomatoes and juice, along with the beans that have been soaking for a day (this is important-I only soaked them for 8 hours and they were too firm even after two hours of cooking-one cup of beans with a bunch of water), salt and pepper.  Simmer for 2 hours.  Really good.  The greens were great in there, you could use collards or kale or whatever. 

 I have been using little bits of Morant's bacon to flavor a lot of my dishes.  I bought a pound of it and split it up and froze it, and I just defrost as needed.