January's Daring Cook's Challenge was a perfect one for this cold, snowy month - cassoulet. It's a French stew with lots of meat (usually duck or chicken), white beans and pork. This was honestly the most complicated dish I've ever made for the Daring Cooks. It took 4 days! But then I probably picked the most complicated of the cassoulet recipes they provided.
Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.
My favorite restaurant, Cafe Madison, had a spectacular dish on their menu called the Don Quixote - braised short ribs in the most delicious sofrito and rioja wine sauce. They recently opened up into an expanded space next door (the Point), where the short ribs are sadly no longer on the menu (except for the occasional special).
My mother-in-law gave me the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook for Christmas, which had a recipe for braised short ribs.So I figured it was time to re-create this wonderful dish, and along the way make a small step towards overcoming my fear of cooking meat.
I don't even want to actually figure out how long it's been since I've posted, so... very sorry about that. No excuses really, I've just been lazy. But I have been cooking! And I have four dishes queued up to post very soon, including a failed cake, an Italian classic, the best sandwich ever, and a carnivore's dream.
Stay tuned!
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