The recipe for les haricots Tarbais à la Moustierenco / white beans South-West style stipulates, as you would expect, haricots Tarbais. I have used other white beans for Goose Fat & Garlic recipes, but never this variety. I tracked some down in the covered market in Cahors and rather baulked at the price, but bought them nevertheless to remain true to the list of ingredients. In Magrets and Mushrooms there is a section on this bean which explains why they are so special (and expensive!). They are produced in the plain of Tarbes, close to Lourdes. Traditionally, they used to be grown climbing up maize plants and were handpicked. However, mass cultivation of maize along with machine harvesting led to their decline, until a cooperative was established supporting small-scale production. They are big kidney-shaped beans (the dried beans double in volume with cooking) that keep their form despite being thin skinned, and have a unique flavour that is tender and non-starchy. So, all in all, I was happy with my purchase. I soaked the beans overnight, then put them in boiling water with an onion, some celery, and a bouquet garni, and simmered for nearly an hour. In another pan, I fried chopped onion till golden, then added chopped tomato and simmered together for a few minutes. To this, I added the drained beans, chopped garlic, and cooking water to cover. I simmered for another 20 minutes and added seasoning to taste.

Although it’s not summer yet, by a long way, I had all the ingredients for tian de lègumes gratiné / summer vegetables baked with cheese. I put a little olive oil in my tian, an open earthenware dish, and added sliced vegetables in layers: aubergine, courgettes and tomatoes. I seasoned each layer and sprinkled with more oil. On the final tomato layer, I also sprinkled some finely chopped rosemary, and then covered with cheese slices. The recipe suggests mozzarella, but I used the local Cantal cheese as a substitute. I baked in the oven for one hour. The result was delicious, both hot and cold, and would also make a very good starter. 

After cooking mashed potatoes quite a lot recently, I was ready to try les pommes de terre Michèle Gaune / potatoes with mustard and herbs. I peeled four potatoes and steamed them until nearly cooked and still holding their shape. I mixed Dijon mustard with olive oil, herbes de Provence, and salt and pepper. I spread this mixture on top of each and finished the cooking in the oven.

For supper tonight, I made le chou-fleur au piment / spicy cauliflower. I added walnut oil to a pan, along with chopped garlic and ground piment d’Espelette, and heated gently to extract the flavours. Meanwhile, I steamed some cauliflower florets, then added these to the pan, turning them from time to time, so that they became evenly coloured. The mild cauliflower soaked up the warm, almost fruity flavours of the piment d’Espelette, a chilli which gets its name from the village of Espelette, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of South-West France, traditionally the northern territory of the Basque people. It is the only chilli to have AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) status and it certainly turned this simple dish into something special.

This recipe for les courgettes au beurre / fried courgettes is ridiculously simple. I grated courgettes using the julienne shredder of my food processor. It took seconds. I heated some butter in a wide sauté pan until foaming, added the courgettes, and tossed them for a few minutes. I sprinkled with salt and pepper, and tipped them into a warm serving dish. Honestly, they were super! Still crunchy, very fresh, and a little nutty.

The recipe for le potimarron farci aux lardons / pumpkin stuffed with bacon uses the smaller potimarron, also known as the red onion or kuru squash. I cut the potimarron in half and removed the seeds. I gently fried bacon lardons with chopped onion. I filled each half with this mixture, adding grated cheese on top, and seasoned well. I cooked in the oven until the flesh was soft. The potimarron was juicy and delicious, skin and all, complimented by its savoury centre. This is another gem of a recipe.

There are lots of recipes for potatoes in Goose Fat & Garlic but les pommes de terre rissolées / cubed potatoes fried in goose fat is a different take. I peeled two large potatoes and cut them into small cubes. I simmered these until just cooked and still retaining their shape. I drained and dried them. Meanwhile, I melted goose fat in a non-stick frying pan and added my potato cubes in one layer with some seasoning. I cooked these slowly, turning them over from time to time, increasing the heat at the end so that they were browned all over. I added a persillade of chopped parsley and garlic and cooked for a few more minutes. So easy to do and better than chips!

The tomatoes here are beautiful and ripe, and I can’t resist buying them. So I usually have a truss in the fruit bowl. Yesterday, when I was wondering what to make for supper, they caught my eye, and I remembered that la sauce aux tomates / tomato sauce is a very versatile dish.

With macaroni, or as a way of livening a plain and perhaps otherwise dull pork chop, or with a dish of haricots blancs, this sauce has an endless variety of applications.

Jeanne Strang in Goose Fat & Garlic

This time I decided to take a more rustic approach. I peeled the tomatoes, cut them into quarters and cooked them with chopped onions, celery and chilli in a little goose fat and sunflower oil. Once the tomatoes were soft, I mashed them with a fork. In another pan I made a sauce starting with a roux and adding stock and some red wine. I added this to the tomato mixture along with a bouquet garni, chopped garlic, parsley and seasoning, and continued to cook until it was chunky and thick. Then I added fried bacon lardons and pasta and tipped the mixture into an oven proof dish. I topped with grated cheese and breadcrumbs and browned under a hot grill. Simple and delicious!

I think of cauliflower as a winter vegetable but I noticed some lovely small ‘bio’ spring cauliflowers in the supermarket. So I was tempted to cook le chou-fleur fromagé / cauliflower coated in cheese again. This recipe is different because the cauliflower is cooked whole and then the cheese is poked between the florets, before the whole is coated in sauce and bread crumbs. This time, for simplicity, I decided to undertake a bit of deconstruction. I cut the florets from the core and cooked them in boiling salted water until just tender. I tipped them into an oven-proof dish and tucked in some slivers of cheese. I made a sauce by mixing crème fraîche with an egg yolk and added seasoning. I spooned this over and sprinkled with breadcrumbs, and finished the cooking in the oven. I was pleased with the result – soft cauliflower, melted cheese and a crunchy top.