new and delicious

Passport & Plate - GARBURE - Peasant Soup of Southwest France

France | Wednesday, March 4, 2015 | flickr photos

Ingredients
For GARBURE:

5 ounces dried white beans
3 quarts water, add more as needed

2 leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and chopped
2 onions, peeled and sliced
6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 
2 turnips, rinsed and cut into chunks
3 carrots, rinsed and cut into chunks

6 parsley sprigs, tied in twine
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme

5 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 pounds green cabbage, chopped

1/2-1 lb smoked pork chops/salt pork/country ham/ or bacon
1/2 lb confit de canard* 

Ground pepper and kosher salt
Country bread to serve

For CONFIT DE CANARD* (recipe to follow)

One pair of duck legs and thighs, skin removed
1/4 c kosher salt
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
3/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
3 whole cloves
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tsp fennel seeds
(Feel free to use other aromatic spices — juniper berries, star anise, etc.)

 

How to prepare this recipe
For GARBURE:
Bring the beans and water to a boil. Turn off flame. Cover to soak in hot water for one hour.
Add leeks, onions, garlic, turnips, carrots, and herbs. Return pot to a simmer for 1 hr 15 min.
Add potatoes, cabbage, pork, and confit de canard*. All meat should be diced. Simmer for 45 min.
Add ground pepper and salt to taste. Serve with country bread.

For CONFIT DE CANARD*:
Duck is a more common fowl in France than in many places. Whole duck or duck breasts can be found in the freezer section in many markets. Duckling is readily available in my local Asian markets. Duck is like a pig in that nothing goes to waste. I will limit this discussion to the use of the legs and thighs. You may substitute chicken or turkey gizzards - still remarkably flavorful. The thing to remember is that when you prepare the rest of the duck, you will render a significant amount of duck fat. This is liquid gold and you will need it for the confit. Let it cool a bit, strain the liquid, then refrigerate the fat. The next day you will easily separate the fat that has risen to the top from any watery liquid on the bottom. Discard the watery bottom liquid. You won’t have enough fat when you do this the first time. You can add some chicken fat or lard instead. Save the fat in the freezer. It can be used many times.

Stir all ingredients into a granular mixture and rub onto the duck legs. 
Place in a glass container in the fridge, cover with plastic wrap, and let cure for ten days, turning occasionally.
Pour off the juice as it is produced, and replace some of the salt.

Heat oven to 250 degrees.

Rinse and pat dry the duck legs. 
Place in a deep ovenproof container that is just large enough to hold the legs.
Add enough fat to submerge the legs.
Cook in oven for 2 hr 30 min, until very tender.
Cool in the fat and refrigerate for several weeks, or freeze in the fat for up to six months.
When used in garbure, adding duck fat provides more flavor.

 

The story behind this recipe
The rustic sign with the word "fromage" appears at the curve in the road. We knock on the farmhouse door and the fermier walks us to the lean-to on the north side of his home. Here he ages his small tomes of cheese. His cows are in the pasture nearby. By now our two teenage boys look forward to these impromptu stops. Yesterday we tasted honey. It is June and the chestnuts are blooming in the plains around Pau, their wide crowns like clouds of creamy flowers. The honey collected in the next few weeks will be perfumed with their scent.

Sometimes it seems that raising kids demands a series of bribes. We are here because years ago we promised our sons that if they studied both French and Spanish, we would travel to the Pyrenees. They have been nurtured on good home cooking and they are dedicated foodies. They are also proficient in two foreign languages. Now the debt is due.

We carry baguettes, ham, cheese, and lovely tiny melons. To reach the Pyrenean lakes, we climb 700 meters and walk 19 kilometers. Despite the solstice, there are snowbanks on the northern slopes and it is cool in the shadows. The pinks of heathers and rhododendron accompany our ramble. We are grateful for the long hours of daylight, arriving back at the trailhead exhilarated, exhausted, and famished.

Descending the col, we pass an unpretentious hotel. Reluctant to drive the mountain road in darkness, we register as the only guests. The adjacent restaurant has a crowd and it is evident from the way people greet one another that we are among local folk. Soon we receive a steaming tureen of peasant soup - garbure. Based upon sturdy root vegetables, beans, cabbage, ham and preserved duck, we inhale the essence of terroir, that mysterious and magical combination of earth, place, and flavor. Four wine glasses are presented, drawing big smiles from our teens and everyone else in the room.

Whenever I want to experience the warmth of that memory, I take out my largest pot and begin to cook garbure.