Lex Culinaria

Home made

My husband has often remarked that John Seymour missed out in not marrying me. Leaving aside the obvious generational problem, I'd mostly agree. I have this very odd drive to make "homemade" everything. I make ricotta, yogurt, cheese, sausage, soap, and I'm sure I'd give bacon and a clay brick oven a try if I had the time. I certainly have the inclination it would seem. I've always been fascinated with making my own "stuff". I go through phases where I do a lot of DIY things and then I run out of energy, but I always seem to come back to it. Lately I've been making a lot of ricotta, soap and yogurt. Not necessarily together or in that order.

There's something very satisfying about making your own basic things. I'm a firm believer that these things taste, smell and perform better than store-bought stuff. Plus there's the whole romantic, faux-pioneer thing to it.

I do especially love good heavy, creamy homemade yogurt. You're not going to find this stuff in any store. You could add some crushed pureed fruit or homemade jam to make a fruit yogurt, but I really love this just the way it is over granola or with a bit of brown sugar and a few nuts over the top of it.

I don't use a yogurt maker. I've never seen the need. In fact I abhor single purpose appliances. There's not much you can't do with just a blender, a food processor and a KitchenAid. Oh, and a few towels. I usually set my yogurt, wrapped in towels near our living room heat vent. That keeps it at a toasty temperature and keeps the little bacteria fellows happy.

makes 1 litre

• 1 litre whole milk
• 1/3 cup instant skim milk powder
• 1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise and cut in half, seeds loosened with a sharp knife
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
• 1 sachet acidophilus, casei, bifidus yogurt culture (can be found in most health food stores) or 250 ml (1 cup) yogurt with active bacterial cultures (store bought or home made)

• special equipment: dairy thermometer, 1.5 litre (or larger) glass container with tight fitting lid, several towels.

Whisk milk and milk powder together in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar, vanilla and lemon zest. Allow milk to boil briefly and then cool to to the temperature stated on your culture package (if you are using previously made yogurt to re-culture let milk cool to 80F.)

Whisk in culture and pour mixture into a sterilized glass container. wrap with towels and place in a warm, enclosed space (like inside a linen cupboard with a small heated wheat bag) or near a heat vent for 12 to 15 hours, or until yogurt is firmed up. Refrigerate to stop the process.

Cannellini bean & garlic sausage cassouolet

What could be a more perfect hunker-down-dish than a deep-brown, saucy and aromatic cassoulet? How about one that involves so little effort it's shameful? I made one in the slow cooker yesterday that was, as my favourite taste-tester (and husband) proclaimed, 100% rustic French farmhouse (even if id did come from a slow cooker). 

The culinary romantic part of me longs for a Le Creuset baker - the perfect vessel for a slow cooked, saucy, bubbling and brown-topped cassoulet. The stingy side of me keeps balking at the price. I have been doing this dance of alternating lust and restraint over the Le Creuset baker for the better part of 10 years now. I see no need to stop.

That is why, instead of a misty-lensed picturesque afternoon punctuated by peeks into the softly glowing oven to check the progress of my mythical casserole, I made mine in the extremely well-loved slow-cooker that I bought at Home Depot in 2004 for the ridiculously low price of $35.99. Not exactly the charming genesis I had envisioned for this dish, but hey, it was still darn tasty.

This dish is best served with a big loaf of warm crusty bread and fresh butter or, if you're going for the authentic farmhouse feel, topped with a generous helping of breadcrumbs fried in seasoned butter. or possibly both.

It's important to get the right kind of sausage for this as it will be simmered for a great deal of time, and coarser sausages tend to fall apart with such treatment. The kind I use is fine ground and can stand up to hours of simmering  - sometimes it's referred to as "boiling sausage". I buy it mine at the K&K Foodliner on Whyte Avenue where they sell it in ham, beef, turkey & bison varieties and it's all made right on premises.

Serves 6

• 1.5 cups dried cannellini beans
• 350 - 400 grams good country garlic sausage, sliced into rounds about 1/4 inch thich
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 small carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
• 1 large (896 ml) tin chopped tomatoes in juice
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley

Soak beans overnight or at least 4 hours in warm water, drain, rinse and add to a 4.5 litre (or larger) slow cooker.

In a large frying pan, lightly sprayed with oil, quickly fry the sausage rounds at medium high heat for 6 to 7 minutes until sausage begins to brown, add onion and continue to cook and stir for 3-4 minutes more until onion begins to soften.

Transfer contents of pan into the slow cooker and use the beef stock to deglaze the pan. Add all remaining ingredients to the slow cooker, except the parsley. Cook on the high setting for 3 to 4 hours. Remove from heat and stir through the parsley. Have a taste before you add any salt or pepper as, depending on the sausage and stock used, there may be no need for salt.

Serve in chunky earthenware bowls topped with buttered fried breadcrumbs or with fresh French bread. This is even better the second day!