Oeufs au pain (bread pudding soufflé)
The lightest, airiest bread pudding I’ve ever tried – total winner!
Tag: 18th century
Matelotte of Large Onions
Large onions, in beef gravy, with seafood. I thought it might be one of those odd sounding dishes that are great – read on to find out!
Sausages à l’étuvée
One of several sausage recipes in From the Hearth, this one involves a wide range of seasonings, as well as the formation of the sausage meat into patties. This is the second sausage dish we’ve tried from the book, and it’s about the same complexity as the first one.
I made this along with the third cauliflower recipe in the book.
Ingredients
1 lb sausage meat (we used 5 large sausages, removed from their casings) 2 tbsp butter (for frying) 1/2 cup flour 1 lb pearl onions (we couldn't find these, used chopped cooking onions) 1/4 cup red wine 1/4 cup bouillon 1 tbsp butter (for dotting top of contents before braising) salt and pepper 1-2 anchovy fillets, minced (optional) 1 tsp capers, minced (optional) croutons Bouquet garni: 1 tbsp fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried) 1 sprig thyme (or 1/8 tsp dried) 2 basil leaves (or 1 tsp dried) 2 tbsp green onions, minced 2 whole cloves 1/2 bay leaf, crushed
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F. Shape meat into patties. Coat with flour and brown in a hot frying pan with butter about 10 minutes per side. (This replaces, in the original, encasing the sausage meat in cauls (animal membranes)). Blanch the onions and drain. Arrange patties and onions in baking dish (that has a lid). Pour in the wine and bouillon and add the bouquet garni. Dot with butter. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, or until onions are almost cooked. Remove from oven and skim off fat (we didn't do this - not sure how it would be possible to skim off the fat, because the liquid doesn't come up above the solid items). Add anchovies, capers, additional salt and pepper if needed. (Added these at the beginning. Oops.) Cook until onions are tender. Add croutons and serve.
Blanching the onions. 
Blanched and drained onion.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find pearl onions, so we used chopped cooking onion.
Mis en place 
Ready for the oven.
We didn’t skim fat from the dish, because none of the liquid came above the solids (you can see a bit of liquid in the image above – that’s all of it).
The verdict
This involved a moderate amount of effort, and I’d say the outcome was worth it. It was very tasty! I’m not sure if the frying of the patties was needed to make this dish work, but it probably added more flavour than the original would have had. The croutons added a really nice texture, and I’d be sure to include them (I’d thought about skipping them).
Would you do this with your sausages? Let us know in the comments!
Cauliflower, the third way
A very simple but tasty dish! A cauliflower side dish, one of four from From the Hearth.
Sausage à la moutarde au gratin
We tried this sausage dish from From the Hearth for a quick weeknight dinner. We used breakfast sausages for this version.
Ingredients
12 sausages 1 cup white wine 1 small onion, sliced Gratin: 4 tbsp bouillon (veal or chicken) 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese 1 tsp good mustard (wet) 2 egg yolks Coating: 1/2 cup butter 1 tbsp mustard, or to taste 3/4 cup dried bread crumbs 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
Cook the sausages and onion by poaching in the wine in a frying pan. Set aside to cool. Remove casings. In a baking dish just big enough to fit all the sausages, mix the gratin ingredients. Brown mixture under the broiler. Set aside. Melt butter and mix in the 1 tbsp mustard. Separately, mix the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Brush sausages with the butter mixture, then roll in the bread crumb mixture. Place coated sausages on top of the gratin in the baking dish (we also added the cooked onion). Brown the coating in the oven. (Do not overcook).
There were quite a number of steps to this dish, but none of them were particularly difficult.
The gratin was kind of surprising, being thin and on the bottom of the baking dish (I think of gratin as something baked on top). But it was still good.
We used a very grainy mustard (the kind I like). Would be interesting to try a smooth version.
The verdict
I underestimated the salt content of the parmesan, and added a bit too much salt to the coating of this dish. Otherwise, it was very tasty! Kid-approved too. I would make this again!
Eggy, mustard-y, tasty sausages! Let us know if you tried this dish in the comments!
Carrots à la Portugaise
The only carrot recipe in From the Hearth is a glazed carrot dish with a touch of floral flavour from orange blossom water. We made this dish for Thanksgiving this year, along with fillet of beef pâté, dessert cream, and tarts (plus some delicious compote …
Dried peas with salt pork
Yet another recipe from From the Hearth, this one for a thick version of split pea soup.
I was inspired to make this by leftovers and scraps. Specifically, the smoky skin cut off the ham used to make Ham paté! I want to remake with salt pork some time – will add to this post when I do.
Ingredients
2 cups dried peas, soaked overnight 1 ham butt or piece of salt pork (1 1/2-2 lbs) soaked overnight 2 carrots, diced 2 onions, diced Bouquet garni: 2 tbsp dried parsley 1 tsp dried thyme 1 large bay leaf Purée: 2 tbsp butter 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped 3 tbsp green onion, chopped salt and pepper 1/4 cup cream (optional) 2 egg yolks (optional)
Instructions
Drain the soaked peas. Place meat, peas, carrots, onions, and bouquet garni to a pot and add 8 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for one hour. Remove lid and continue to simmer for 30 minutes or until peas are soft and only enough water remains to prevent peas from sticking to the bottom. Peas will be porridge-like. Remove bouquet garni. Put peas through strainer (I didn't do this). Add back to pot on medium heat. Add purée additions, stirring gently smooth, creamy and heated through.
I didn’t end up adding the cream or egg yolks, but the dish was delicious all the same. I also didn’t put through a strainer – I tend to like things a bit chunky.
The trimmings from the ham paté were the inspiration for making this dish.
I used regular green split peas.
We ended up eating this the next day, and it was terrific reheated.
The Verdict
Delicious! It was a very flavourful dish, particularly for being made with water instead of stock. A great way to take advantage of the flavour of ham trimmings! There were some largish bits of the ham fat in the soup – very rich. I might trim a bit of that off prior to making this again the same way.
