what's cooking
Sunday, Dec. 19, 2004, 11:38 AM

A day this cold requires something hot and hearty for dinner. To that end, I have the slow-cooker simmering merrily away. What am I making? Well, it is hard to describe. Something between a French-style white bean cassoulet, and good, old-fashioned, Southern-style Ham & Beans. Leaning more toward the latter, given my upbringing. But with a few French touches.

When Spouse cooked a bone-in half ham a few weeks ago, I rescued the bone, with its remaining meat. I popped it into a plastic bag and filed for future reference in the freezer. Last night, I put it into the fridge to thaw, and set a pound of dried Great Northerns to soak.

When I got up this morning, I rinsed the beans and placed them, along with the ham bone, into my crock pot.
I then added 2 large ribs of celery (leaves and all) coarsely chopped, one medium onion, ditto, and about a quarter-teaspoon of chopped garlic. I poured in three-quarters of a cup of white wine (I always use whatever is on hand for drinking--in this case, a Yellow Tail chardonnay) and about two cups of stock. Again, whatever is on hand. Chicken is good, beef is okay, vegetable is very nice. Today I had some beef stock, so I used that. Then I added enough water to cover the beans.

And I contemplated my herbs. Penzey�s Bouquet Garni, Herbes de Provence, and Turkish Bay Leaves. Fresh-ground black pepper. Into the pot, along with a �glug� of extra-virgin olive oil. Turn it to high (on my crock pot, that gives me a bare simmer) and leave. For the rest of the day. I�m serious--it just gets wonderful all by itself. No further interference from me. That is the advantage of doing in a slow-cooker. Making it on the stove requires more attention.

(By using the Bouquet Garni and Herbes de Provence blends, I get the following herbs into my dish: savory, rosemary, thyme, Turkish oregano, basil, dill weed, marjoram, sage, cracked fennel, lavender and tarragon.
I love these two blends, and use them a lot in my cooking.)

Now tonight, when it is about suppertime, I�ll mix up a batch of cornbread and bake it, and I�ll pull the bone out of the pot and scrape every bit of ham off it I can get. I�ll throw the ham back in with the beans, and make a salad of field greens, cherry tomatoes, and raspberry-chipotle vinaigrette. When the cornbread is finished--dinner is ready.

I admit, the cornbread will be from a mix. But in my defense--A) it is a Trader Joe�s mix, and makes the best cornbread I�ve ever had, and B) Hey! I�m a cook, not a baker.

And I didn�t make the salad dressing, either. My friend D, who is a brilliant cook, did. And let me just say: it seriously rocks.

Damn.

It smells so good in here right now, my stomach is rumbling. And it still has about six more hours to cook.