HOW TO CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR....THE RIGHT WAY!

It's going to be a tradition. Cassoulet at New Years'. This traditional dish of SW France, specifically the Toulouse region was researched and included in Paula Wolfert's famous book, The Cooking of SW France . This is far more than a cookbook...it's an introduction to a culture through it's cooking. For those who are starting to look at green eating and being a locavore, you can do a cassoulet pretty much locally (if you've got a good butcher who processes home raised animals). Take a look at, http://www.localharvest.org/ to find farms and farmers near you.

Tom starting the process slicing pork from Katy and Peter Hemberger's CSA farm to make Toulouse style sausage.

Paula's book not only gives the basic recipe, but recipes for all the somewhat specialized ingredients like Toulouse sausage and duck confit.

Betsy finished off the additional ingredients ( the wine was for the sausage, not her!). Unfortunately we don't have a picture of the two of us working the Kitchenaid to grind and stuff the sausage.

Have to say the result not only looked good, but tasted fabulous. While Paula lists some shortcuts and substitutions, we did it her way all the way this time, and the result was heaven!
So once the sausages are made, the first day is done.
As you'll see later, we got into all this a few years ago when Paula approached us to make a cassole (which is the pot in which you finish the cassoulet which was similar to one she got in France some 20 years ago for the first edition of her book. In 2 years we've sold over 80 of these beautiful bowls.

POTS AND LOCAL FOOD-Ceramics Monthly

This article recently ran in Ceramics Monthly. It says a lot about the connection between locally grown foods and handmade pottery.

DowntoEarth.pdf

Katy Hemberger, who helps us out in both the Gallery and the studio during the non-farming months, and her husband, Peter, have a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm just west of Hutch. Visit them at www.augustearth.com . If you live in the Hutchinson, Litchfield or St. Peter area, they still have a couple of shares left for this summer.

Anyway, there's some food for thought here (pun intended).

DowntoEarth.pdf