by Julia Child
⅓ cup plain, raw, white untreated rice
The boiling onion-cooking water
After onion cups have been blanched and removed, stir rice into boiling water and boil slowly for 10 to 12 minutes, until rice is almost but not quite tender. Drain thoroughly, and add to mixing bowl.
⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup crème fraîche or heavy cream
½ cup dry, not-too-fine crumbs from nonsweetened homemade-type white bread (for now and for Step 3)
¼ cup minced parsley
2 Tb fresh minced basil or 1 tsp fresh minced tarragon (or ¼ to ½ Tb fragrant dried basil, oregano, sage, or tarragon)
Salt and pepper to taste
Stir the cheese and cream into the rice and onions, then 2 tablespoons of the bread crumbs. If mixture does not hold its shape softly, blend in a spoonful or so more crumbs to thicken and bind it. Stir in the herbs and seasonings.
3) Stuffing and baking the onions—1 to 1¼ hours at 375 degrees
3 to 4 Tb melted butter
A heavily buttered flame-proof baking dish just large enough to hold onions easily, such as a 12-inch casserole 3 inches deep
½ cup dry white wine or dry white French vermouth
½ to 1 cup beef stock or bouillon
The bread crumbs
A bulb baster
Preheat oven to 375. Butter or oil the outside of the onion cups and arrange in the baking dish. Sprinkle interiors lightly with salt and pepper, and fill with the stuffing, heaping it into a half-inch dome. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of bread crumbs and of melted butter. Pour the wine around the onions, and enough stock or bouillon to come ⅓ the way up the onions. Bring to simmer on top of stove, then set in lower middle of preheated oven.
Bake uncovered for 1 to 1¼ hours, regulating oven so that liquid remains at the slow simmer, and basting outside of onions several times with liquid in dish. Onions are done when a knife pierces them easily, but they should not overcook and lose their shape. Outside layer will toughen slightly, but insides will be tender. Top of stuffing should brown attractively, but if it is browning too much, cover loosely with foil or brown paper. Serve from baking dish, or arrange around the meat or vegetable platter. Add any onion juices to whatever sauce you are making.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be baked in advance and kept warm or reheated.
CHOU FARCI
[Stuffed Whole Cabbage]
Stuffed cabbage is the kind of dish that guests and family always seem to love because it has the hearty, earthy look and the rich, satisfying aroma that promise good eating. To stuff a whole cabbage you first make a delicious mixture using something like the fresh sausage and ham suggested here, or leftover meat as in the variation following it. You then pull off the cabbage leaves, boiling them until pliable, and re-form the cabbage into approximately its original shape with your delicious mixture spread between layers of leaves. Finally you braise, sauce, and serve it up, and it looks just like a beautiful, decorated, whole cabbage sitting on the serving platter. You must, of course, have some method for holding the cabbage leaves in the shape of the whole while braising. If you have struggled to mold cabbage with string, towels, cheesecloth, or even the net shopping bag that is occasionally used in Provence, we think you will welcome the ease of the following bowl-molding method. Parslied boiled potatoes, French bread, and rosé wine would go well with the cabbage.
NOTE: Braised stuffed cabbage is equally good cold, and could well be baked specially for a cold lunch or a picnic. If so, drain and unmold it as soon as it is done, so there will be no bits of congealed fat on the leaves.
For 8 to 10 people
1) Fresh sausage, rice, and ham stuffing—about 6 cups
2 cups (1 lb.) fresh sausage meat, preferably homemade
A medium sized (10-inch) frying pan
A 5- to 6-quart mixing bowl and large wooden spoon
1½ cups diced mild-cured ham (such as a store-bought ready-to-cook ham slice)
2 cups minced onions
2 cups boiled rice (⅔ cup raw rice, boiled)
½ tsp sage
½ tsp caraway seeds
¼ cup minced fresh parsley
2 cloves mashed garlic
1 egg
Salt and pepper
(Start the water boiling for Step 2.) Break up the sausage meat and sauté over moderate heat for 5 to 6 minutes, just until it is beginning to brown lightly. Remove to mixing bowl, leaving fat in pan. Brown the ham lightly in the fat; remove it to the bowl, again leaving fat in pan. Finally stir in the onions and cook slowly for 8 to 10 minutes, until tender and beginning to brown very lightly. Scrape them into the bowl and beat in all the rest of the ingredients. Taste carefully for seasoning, adding more salt and herbs if you feel them necessary. (Chopped, blanched leaves from the heart of the cabbage will be stirred in later.)
2) Preparing the cabbage for stuffing
A firm, fresh, crisp 2¼- to 2½-lb. cabbage (about 8 inches in diameter), either the crinkle-leafed Savoy or the smooth-leafed Danish or domestic
A large kettle of boiling salted water
A large tray covered with a towel
With a small, stout knife, make a bias cut all around the stem of the cabbage, going 2 to 2½ inches deep, and remove the tough core. Discard any outside leaves that seem tough or wilted. If you have the crinkle-leafed Savoy cabbage, you usually need not blanch it to remove the leaves. Peel them off carefully so as not to tear them, until you come to the heart, where leaves are small and bend inward. Drop as many cabbage leaves as will easily fit into the boiling water and boil, uncovered, for 3 to 4 minutes, until leaves are pliable enough to bend without breaking. (This is called blanching.) Drain on towel and continue with the rest of the leaves and the heart, boiling it 5 minutes.
If you have a smooth-leafed cabbage (or an unpeelable Savoy), drop the whole cabbage core side down into the boiling water. In 5 minutes, start loosening leaves carefully, nudging them off the cabbage with 2 long spoons as they free themselves from the core. Remove these leaves to the tray. Continue loosening and removing leaves to tray until you come to the heart, where leaves bend inward. Leave heart to boil for 5 minutes, and add as many of the removed leaves as will easily fit, boiling them 3 to 4 minutes or until they are just pliable. Continue with the rest of the leaves. (Do not discard boiling water yet.) Chop the heart of the cabbage, salt and pepper lightly, and stir into the already prepared stuffing from Step 1.
3) Other miscellaneous preliminaries
10 to 12 slices of lean salt pork or bacon approximately 4 by 1½ inches and ⅜ inch thick
The boiling cabbage water
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium carrot, sliced
2 Tb rendered goose or pork fat, or cooking oil
The frying pan
Drop the slices of salt pork or bacon into the boiling water and boil slowly for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside on paper toweling. Meanwhile, cook the vegetables in the fat or oil until tender and just beginning to brown, then remove to a side dish. (Note that there is also a sauce base in Step 6, which you may prepare now if you wish.)
4) Stuffing the cabbage
A lightly buttered 2½- to 3-quart stainless-steel bowl, flame-proof mold, baking dish, or charlotte mold 3½ to 4 inches deep (with a cover)
Salt and pepper
3 to 4 cups excellent brown stock or bouillon
Lay several strips of the blanched pork or bacon in the bottom of the stainless steel bowl or flameproof mold and cover with the lightly browned carrot and onion slices.
Starting with the largest and greenest of the blanched cabbage leaves, lay them curved side down and stem end up in the mold, to cover bottom and sides. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
Spread a layer of stuffing over the lower third of the leaves. Cover the stuffing with cabbage leaves. Salt and pepper them lightly, and spread on more stuffing.
As you build up layers, slip leaves down side of mold to be
sure sides are well covered.
When you have used all the stuffing, and mold is filled to within ½ inch of top, cover filling with a final layer of leaves and arrange the rest of the blanched salt pork or bacon on top.
Pour enough stock or bouillon between outside leaves and side of mold to come about an inch from the top.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be prepared in advance to this point and cooked the next day. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Add 20 to 30 minutes more to cooking time if cabbage has been chilled.
5) Braising—2½ to 3 hours at 400 degrees and 350 degrees
Waxed paper
The cover for the mold
A pan to hold the mold and to catch drippings
A bulb baster
Additional stock or bouillon if needed
Optional: a meat thermometer
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring filled mold slowly to the full simmer on top of the stove. Lay the waxed paper over the cabbage and cover the mold. Set in pan and place in lower middle of preheated, 400-degree oven. In 20 to 30 minutes, when liquid in mold is slowly and steadily simmering, turn thermostat down to 350 degrees and regulate oven heat so that liquid is always very slowly simmering throughout the 2½ to 3 hours of cooking. Baste occasionally with the cooking liquid, and add a little more stock if liquid evaporates below the halfway mark. (2½ to 3 hours are needed for heat to penetrate into center of cabbage, where a meat thermometer should read 165 to 170 degrees.)
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES are at end of Step 4.
6) Sauce and serving
½ cup finely minced onions
1 Tb rendered goose or pork fat, or cooking oil
A heavy-bottomed, 2-quart, enameled or stainless saucepan with cover
1 clove mashed garlic
1 lb. (3 to 4 medium) tomatoes peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped (1½ cups pulp); or part fresh tomatoes and part sieved, canned Italian-type plum tomatoes
½ tsp sage
Salt and pepper to taste
While cabbage is braising, or at any other convenient time, make the sauce base as follows: Stir the onions into the fat, cover pan, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until onions are tender and translucent but not browned. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and sage; cover and simmer 10 minutes. Uncover, season to taste, and set aside.
If needed: ½ Tb cornstarch blended with 1 Tb tomato juice or bouillon
A frying pan
A hot serving dish
3 Tb minced fresh parsley
When cabbage is done, keep cover on mold and drain cooking liquid into the tomato sauce base; let simmer while you are finishing the cabbage. Sauce should thicken lightly. If it does not, remove from heat, blend in cornstarch, and simmer 2 minutes more. Carefully correct seasoning.
Remove pork or bacon pieces from top of cabbage and set aside. Drain cabbage again, then turn serving dish upside down over mold and reverse the two, unmolding cabbage onto the dish. Remove vegetables and pork from top of cabbage. Pat pork or bacon strips dry on paper towels, and brown very lightly in frying pan; arrange them decoratively over the cabbage. Spoon the sauce around the cabbage, decorate with the parsley, and serve as soon as possible.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES: Sauce may be finished and pork or bacon sautéed well in advance of serving, then reheated. Keep cabbage warm, loosely covered, and unmold at last minute. (Omit sautéing the pork strips at bottom of mold.) However, if you leave the cabbage too long, or cool and reheat it, you risk losing its freshly cooked quality.
VARIATIONS
Feuilles de Chou Farcies
[Stuffed Cabbage Leaves for Individual Servings]
When you wish a less elaborate presentation, a little quicker cooking, have fewer people to serve, or want an attractive way to use a bit of leftover meat, you may make as many or as few servings as you wish by wrapping a stuffing in individual cabbage leaves. Usually served hot, these are also delicious cold on a bed of lettuce or watercress, and garnished with sliced tomatoes and cucumbers in a vinaigrette sauce.
For 12 stuffed cabbage leaves, serving 4 to 6
12 large blanched cabbage leaves 7 to 8 inches long (Step 2 in preceding Master Recipe)
One at a time, lay blanched cabbage leaves curved side down on cutting board and cut a wedge about 2 inches long out of the tough bottom stem.
About 2 cups of stuffing (that in the preceding recipe, the one at the end of this section, or one from the list)
Place a loaf-shaped mound of stuffing on lower third of leaf just above wedge cut.
Start rolling leaf toward tip. At the halfway mark, fold each side over stuffing to enclose it.
Finish rolling up the leaf, and complete the rest of the leaves in the same manner.
1 each: medium-sized carrot and onion sliced and lightly browned (Step 3 in preceding recipe)
A lighdy buttered 2-quart flameproof baking and serving dish 2 inches deep (such as a 9- by 12-inch oval)
Optional: the rest of the cabbage leaves, blanched and roughly chopped
Salt, pepper, and ¼ tsp ground sage, rosemary, or thyme
12 slices of lean salt pork or bacon, 4 by 1½ inches, ⅜ inch thick, and blanched (Step 3 in preceding recipe)
About 2 cups of excellent brown stock or bouillon
Aluminum foil
A bulb baster
The tomato-sauce base, Step 6 in preceding Master Recipe
Strew the sliced cooked carrots and onions in the bottom of the baking dish and spread the optional blanched and chopped cabbage over it. Season with salt, pepper, and rosemary or thyme. Lay the stuffed cabbage leaves on top, seam-side down and close together. Salt and pepper them lightly, cover each with a strip of blanched salt pork or bacon, and pour around them enough stock or bouillon almost to cover. Enclose top of dish tightly with aluminum foil.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be completed in advance to this point. Refrigerate, and bake the next day if you wish.
Bake for 1 to 1¼ hours in a preheated 350-degree oven, basting occasionally with the liquid in the dish. Drain cooking liquid into the tomato sauce base and boil down rapidly to thicken. Carefully correct seasoning and pour back over the cabbage rolls. Brown the pork or bacon strips lightly in a frying pan and arrange over the cabbage, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.
Petits Choux Farcis
[Ball-shaped Stuffed Cabbage Leaves]
Rather than sausage shapes, you may form the leaves into round shapes resembling individual cabbages. To do so, blanch the leaves as directed and cut a wedge out of bottom of stem. Place leaf curved side down on the corner of a towel. Heap 2 to 3 tablespoons of stuffing in the center, fold rest of leaf over stuffing, then twist into a ball in the towel to force a round shape. Arrange balls smooth side up and close together in a dish, and bake as in preceding recipe, but 1 hour of cooking should be sufficient.
ANOTHER STUFFING
Braised Beef and Ham Stuffing
For about 6 cups
1½ cups minced onions
3 Tb rendered goose or pork fat, or cooking oil
½ cup dry crumbs from nonsweetened, homemade-type white bread
⅔ cup light cream
3 cups ground cooked lean beef, preferably braised, but any type of cooked beef will do
1½ cups ground cooked lean ham (mild-cured boiled or baked ham, or ready-to-cook ham slice)
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 to 3 cloves mashed garlic
¾ tsp ground rosemary or thyme
2 eggs
½ cup minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Cook the onions in fat or oil in a covered saucepan over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes until tender; raise heat and cook a few minutes more until lightly browned. Meanwhile blend the bread crumbs and cream in a small bowl and let stand while assembling rest of ingredients. Finally beat the cooked onions, crumbs, meats, cheese, garlic, herbs, eggs, and parsley vigorously together to blend. Carefully season to taste, adding m
ore herbs if you feel them necessary.
POTATO DISHES
Pommes de Terre
Ounce for ounce, potatoes have fewer calories than fresh peas, lima beans, or sweet corn, yet potatoes come so near to being the complete food that one can survive healthily on a diet of potatoes only, plus a very small amount of fat, for as much as 5 months. Nutrition aside, the potato is an endlessly fascinating gastronomical object which, since its introduction by Parmentier into France during the reign of Louis XVI, has received tremendous French culinary attention. We shall not, in this short section, go into the fundamental cooking methods because they are available in any good basic cookbook. We offer instead a number of out-of-the-ordinary simmers and sautés, a deliciously fattening potato pie, two of the classics illustrated, pommes Anna and pommes duchesse, and we begin with a group of useful potato facts.
NOTES ON BUYING AND STORING POTATOES