Traditional Ariège recipes
Starters
| For 6 people | Salad with duck or goose confit |
| Head of frisée lettuce 300 g de gésiers confits (giblets) 3 Tbs olive oil (or walnut or sunflower oil) 1 Tbs vinegar salt and pepper fried croutons 1 clove of garlic |
Prepare the lettuce and season it 5 minutes before adding the giblets. Mince the giblets and reheat them in a pan in their own fat. When they're hot, put them in the salad and stir. Scatter on the salad the browned croutons that have been rubbed with the garlic clove. |
| For 4 people | Cèpe omelette (porcini mushrooms) |
| up to 750 g cèpe mushrooms 8 eggs 1 Tbs crème fraîche parsley salt and pepper olive or vegetable oil |
Clean the cèpes with a soft towel, removing the soil clinging to them. Cut them in fairly thick slices, lay them on a plat, lightly salt them and let them rest for 2 hours so they release their moisture. Beat the eggs together with the crème fraiche, salt and pepper In a non-adhesive frying pan, heat the oil and cook them on a low flame. When the cèpes are golden, pour the beaten eggs over them and cook until set, but do not overcook. The omelette should remain unctuous. Serve very hot, folded over and sprinkled with chopped parsley. |
Soups
La garbure ariégeoise |
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1 piece of duck or goose confit 1 medium head of cabbage, cut in quarters 1 large onion, minced 300 g of stale country bread 150 g of aged Bamalou or Bethmale cheese, grated |
Warm the duck confit in a pan to melt the fat and remove. Sauté the minced onion in the fat, then place both in a pot along with 2 liters of cold water, salt, pepper, thyme and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil and add the cabbage, first removing the greenest outer leaves. Simmer on a low flame for 1 1/2 hours. In an earthenware casserole, lay down first the sliced bread, then the cabbage, the duck confit and then the grated cheese. Cover with the broth and finish with another layer of grated cheese. Place in hot oven to brown the cheese and serve. |
L'aïgo bullido or thourin ariégeois |
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1.5 liters of water 100 ml olive or peanut oil 1 Tbs vinegar salt and pepper 6 cloves of garlic, minced 2 eggs stale country bread |
Bring to a boil the water with salt and pepper, add the minced garlic and let boil for 20 minutes on a low flame. Break the the eggs, tossing the whites in the broth and putting the yolks in a bowl. Let cook another 10 minutes. Whisk the yolks with the oil. Remove the broth from the heat and mix the yolks into it. In a large serving bowl, lay down the slices of bread and pour over them the broth. Serve immediately. |
Grilled meat
Cooking over embers pork, liver or duck sausages, lamb chops or duck breast lets one taste the exceptional quality of the meat from Ariège farms. Served with tomatoes "à la micade" or sautéd aubergines, these simple dishes will enchant you.
To accompany them, prepare a Toulouse-style "aillade."
L'aillade toulousaine (Alhada tolosenca) |
|
75 g of walnut pieces 50 g of garlic cloves 250 g walnut oil 1 spoonful of chopped parley |
With a mortar and pestle, crush the walnuts and the peeled garlic cloves. While doing so, incorporate 2 to 3 spoonfuls of cold water in order to obtain a smooth paste. Ad the salt and pepper, then slowly pour the oil so that it's well absorbed. Add the parsley. Transfer to a sauce boat. Aillade is served most often with grilled duck breasts. |
Main courses
For 4 people |
Les taillous |
500 g potatoes, cooked but firm |
Peel the potatoes and cut in pieces. Cook in a liter of salted water, drain and dry. Make the salad, season it with olive or walnut oil, 1 spoonful of vinegar, salt and pepper. Add the croûtons that have been rubbed with garlic and mix. In a large pan, heat the peanut oil and sauté the slices of ham, 1 minute per side, and keep them warm. Break the eggs in the pan juices, add salt and pepper and 2 Tbs vinegar. Serve the fried eggs with the potatoes, the ham and the salad. |
|
La Rouzole |
500 g sausage meat |
In a large bowl, mix together well the sausage meat, the ham or pork belly, the eggs, garlic and chopped parsley, the bread that has been soaked in milk and drained. Season well with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a pan, then place the mixture in it and press down with a spatula to form a disk 3 to 4 cm thick. Cook over a medium flame, turning to brown both sides. When it's well cooked and golden, remove it to a plate. Rouzolle is eaten with azinat (next recipe). |
|
L'azinat aux choux |
1 large cabbage |
This is a staple dish in the valleys of the high Ariège. Wash the cabbage. Blanch it for 5 minutes in boiling water. Mince the carrots and onions and sauté in duck fat. Add the pork ribs ("coustellou") which you first washed to remove excess salt, the saucissons de couennes, the ham broth, bay leaf; cover with 2.5 liters of water, season with pepper and bring to a boil. Add the cabbage. Cook on a low flame for 2 hours. Then add the potatoes, the liver sausage cut in pieces, the duck confit with excess fat removed. Lay the rouzole on top. Cook for another 30 minutes on low heat. After cooking, skim off the fat and pour the broth into sepaate pot. You can serve the broth as is or after cooking some vermicelli in it. Serve the vegetabels, the meat and the rouzole on a large platter, with mustard and cornichons on the side. |
|
La mounjetado ou cassoulet ariégeois |
I kg dried white beans |
Cassoulets de Castelnaudary, de Carcassonne, de Toulouse, les ariégeois l'appellent "mounjetado" ou "estouffat de mounjes". Mettre les haricots bien lavés à tremper durant une nuit dans de l'eau additionnée de bicarbonate de soude, les rincer, les égoutter, les faire blanchir, encore à l'eau tiède. Dans une poêle, faire fondre les tomates, l'ail et les oignons. Verser les légumes dans un grand faitout, ajouter les couennes, le coustellou bien lavé, le fond de jambon, les saucissons de couennes et les haricots, couvrir avec 2 litres 1/2 d'eau tiède. Laisser mijoter au moins 3 heures. Une 1/2 h avant la fin de la cuisson rajouter le confit dégraissé, la saucisse dorée à la poêle, et la saucisse de foie fendue et coupée en morceaux, et saisie quelques minutes à la poêle. Poivrer. La sauce de la " mounjetado " ne doit pas être trop courte, ajouter, si cela est nécessaire de l'eau en cours de cuisson pour obtenir la bonne consistance. |
Desserts
For 6 people |
La Croustade |
300 g de farine 1/2 verre d'eau parfumée à la fleur d'oranger et d'eau-de-vie 1 pincée de levure 1 cuillère à soupe de graisse de canard ou d'huile |
Originally a speciality of the Couserans, this pastry filled with prunes, apple or pear has spread throughout all of Ariège. The night before, Flatten and stretch out the pastry on a floured surface. Lay the butter cut in thin slices on top of it and fold the pastry over. Stretch it again. Spread the duck fat over it, fold it over again and let it rest. The next day, When the pastry has risen, divide it in two. Roll out one half and lay it in a 30 cm shallow tart pan. Spread the fruit in one layer. Sprinkle over the sugar and vanilla sugar. Sprinkle over the flavoured water. Roll out the other half of the pastry to make a disk to lay on top. Daub with a mixture of lait, vanilla sugar and egg yolk. Bake until golden. After removing it from the oven, sprinkle with sugar. |
|
Millas |
400 g maize meal 1.5 liters of milk 125 g butter, cut in pieces 125 g sugar 15 cl orange flower water 1 tsp salt |
This dessert resembles a sweet polenta. It was traditionally prepared when butchering a pig or fattened ducks, when a lot of extra fat is on hand (duck or pork fat was used instead of butter). For this reason, you'll often see millas sold in butcher shops. To make millas, you need a copper cauldron (failing that, a very large pot), a "toudeilho", a stirring utensil made from the top of a fir tree (failing that, a large spatula) and a large, white, coarsely woven cloth. In the cauldron, boil the water and milk. Add salt and slowly pour un the flour and maize meal, stirring constantly. Add the butter, sugar and orange flower water. Cook on low heat for 1 hour, stirring often. The millas is done when the "toudeilho" stands up by itself in the mix. Pour out the millas onto the flowered cloth and spread into a 2 cm thickness. Let cool and then cut into small squares. To serve, fry in butter and sprinkle with sugar. (It's also delicious with maple syrup.) |
Hypocras (a wine aperitif)
L'hypocras blanc |
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* pinte = 0.93 liter |
"Vous faut prendre trois pintes* de meilleur vin blanc, une livre et demie de sucre, plus ou moins, une once* de cannelle, deux ou trois feuilles de marjolaine, deux grains de poivre sans piller. Passez le tout dans une chauffe avec un petit grain de musc et deux ou trois morceaux de citron : après quoi, laissez infuser le tout ensemble pendant trois ou quatre heures." Take 3 pintes of good white wine, a pound and a half of sugar, an ounce of of cinnamon, two or three leaves of marjoram, two whole peppercorns. Heat all with a small nutmeg and two or three pieces of lemon. Leave to infuse for three or four hours. Par le sieur de La Varanne, Ecuyer de cuisine de Mr le Marquis d'Vxelles en l'an de grâce 1689. |