I hadn’t been to Nosh in ages so I visited there on Wednesday afternoon. Yip, still love that place.  It was ok weather when I left the house but it was pelting felines and canines the whole walk back. Committed much? I’m still convinced that you can shop smartly there and come out better off than your giant Australian chain. $3 for 3 avocados? Yes please! A bag of rocket for $2.50? Don’t mind if I do.

I was casually browsing the meat section as I usually do, when I spied some sexy French sausages. The sausages sang to me, “Bonjour, mon cher ami, bon-jo-ur!” and I shyly fudged a little high-school French back. There was something very likeable about these sausages and we became instant friends.

Later on, with sausages safely tucked away in the fridge, I asked The Googe about these new sausage friends of mine. I guess asking The Googe about a new ingredient is like Facestalking someone you’ve just befriended.

The Googe says:

Toulouse sausage. Pronunciation: too-LOOZ
Notes: This exquisite French sausage is usually made with pork, smoked bacon, wine, and garlic.  It’s a great sausage for a cassoulet.  Cook it before serving.

Hmmm…Pork and smoked bacon and wine and garlic?

I think I am in love.

Lomo-sausage?

I’ve been seeing lots of lomography around lately so I figured I’d experiment in Photoshop a bit with a photo. Below is a photo of the Toulouse sausages with my faux lomography effect applied. The vignette is probably a bit too strong in this one.

The photo before I started played with it (just taken on my dslr camera):

What do you reckon? Would you go back to film for these effects? Does it charm your trousers?

Crazy Mixed Up Asian French Fusion Cassoulet

More than enough for 2.

Cassolet generally takes a long time and I’m sure the effort is worth it. But last night I wanted a hearty meal in less than an hour.

Ingredients

3 large Toulouse sausages
5 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 carrot, diced
1 onion, diced
1/2 garlic bulb, roughly chopped
1 can white beans
1/2 cup edamame beans (shelled)
1 good glug glug of rice wine
A generous knob of butter
A cup of tomato based pasta sauce (I just call it “red sauce”)

Preparation

1. Soak dried mushrooms in hot water for a few minutes. Drain and reserve the liquid. Slice mushrooms. In half or in thick slices. Depends how much you and your guests love them.
2. Slice each sausage in half on an angle. Things just look fancier when cut on an angle.
3. In a dutch oven or other heavy pot that has a lid, melt the butter and brown the sausages, turn sausages and brown the other side. Aiming for an attractive colour here, so a fairly hot element.
4. Add diced onions, carrot and garlic. Cook for a minute or two.
5. Add the good glug glug of rice wine.
6. Carry on frying until all of the wine is gone. By that I mean that the liquid in the pot is reduced, not to suggest you’ve polished the bottle of wine off.
7. Add the mushrooms, the mushroom soaking liquid and the red sauce. Stir.
8. Once the pot is boiling again, add the edamame beans.
9. Put the lid on, turn the heat to low and go do something else for 15 minutes.
10. Serve with toast or bread.