History on the Table – A Dish from the Hundred Years War Meets Wine from the Land of the Bible: Cassoulet + Tabor Adama Shiraz 2013 #WinePW

This month the Wine Pairing Weekend bloggers are looking at the Ancient World Wine Pairings with Nicole of Somm's Table at the lead. You can read her invitation here. 

I was immediately intrigued as my inner historian is always dying to unearth some (new-to-me) connections between food, wine, and history. I started my exploration with a Retsina from Greece, pairing it rather unsuccessfully with Kouneli Stifado (Greek rabbit stew) before finding it a nice match with some Juniper Chocolate from Lithuania. Then I uncorked a bottle of wine from Lebanon and baked some Lebanese flatbread, Man'oushe, to match.

However, the duo I chose to share as my official post for this month's #WinePW is a French dish paired with an Israeli wine because Jake and I both loved this wine! I do have one more wine to try for this topic; it was made with an ancient technique, e.g. aged in amphorae, that hails from Portugal. Stay tuned for that post. It was delicious, too.

But before we get to my post, here are the others' offerings on the topic of Ancient World Wine Pairings. These will all go live between Friday, April 10th and early morning Saturday, April 11th. And if you are reading this early enough, feel free to join us for a live Twitter chat. You can find us with hashtag #WinePW; if you chime in, be sure to use the hashtag as well, so that we can see your tweet.

Ancient World Wine Pairings

• Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla explores History on the Table – A Dish from the Hundred Years War Meets Wine from the Land of the Bible: Cassoulet + Tabor Adama Shiraz 2013.
• Wendy of A Day on the Life on the Farm enjoys Clams Tossed in Herbs and Spaghetti with a Santo Assyrtiko.
• Terri of Our Good Life is taken with Old World Charm: Tifosi Vino Bianco with Olives and Citrus.
• Andrea of The Quirky Cork shares The Ancient Wine Culture of Antioch. 
• David of Cooking Chat is Tasting and Pairing Ancient World Wines.
• Pinny of Chinese Food & Wine Pairings makes the case to Drink Ancient Saperavi and Eat Modern Family Meals from Chinese Takeouts.
• Linda from My Full Wine Glass discovers Agiorgitiko: Modern Greek Wine from an Ancient Land.
• Gwendolyn of Wine Predator pairs an Ancient Wine for Modern Times: Slovenia's Jarenincan and Calamari with Lemon Caper Sauce.
• Cindy of Grape Experiences explores Aglianico - An Ancient Variety That Ages Well.
• Susannah of Avvinare is sipping an Ancient Wine from Campania- Falerno del Massico.
• Jane of Always Ravenous posts about Food and Wine in Ancient Greece.
• And Nicole, our hostess, shares An Armenian Feast with Friends Paired with Armenian Wines on Somm's Table.

In the Glass

I'm going to start with a little bit of winemaking history from the land of the bible. Viticulture has existed in the region since biblical times. In fact, in the book of Deuteronomy, vines are listed as one of the seven blessed crops in the land, "a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey" (Deuteronomy 8:8).

Israel's location placed it on a historic trading route between Mesopotamia and Egypt. And, in addition to goods, that commerce brought winemaking know-to to the area. During the Roman empire, wine from Israel was exported to Rome. In fact, historically Israeli wine has almost always left the area; when the Egyptians ruled the region, taxes were often paid in the form of wine.

I was fortunate to find two of these bottles - Tabor Adama Shiraz 2013 - online. So, they were delivered right to my door and I didn't have to venture out to many stores while California's shelter-in-place order stands. The Tabor winery sits in the heart of the fertile Galilee, in the foothills of Mt. Tabor, while the grapes for this wine come from the Kibbutz Malkia in the Upper Galilee, near the border with Lebanon.

The bottle label calls out 'Terra Rossa' which means 'red earth' in Italian. That refers to a well-drained, reddish soil with neutral pH that is typical of the Mediterranean. It's a popular substrate for wine production.

The wine poured a clear pale garnet color that belied its true depth. On the nose, there were notes of berries and soft florals. On the palate, the wine was round with silky tannins and a lengthy finish. It's simultaneously fresh and fruity with some weightier earth elements of cedar and oak. What a wine!

Jake and I first poured this with a white bean hummus and homemade Israeli flatbreads.

I'll post those recipes soon! But the pairing that absolutely cemented this wine as one of our favorites is a French dish from the Hundred Years War era.

In the Bowl

While the roots of this dish are debated - some place its origins as Arabic - the story I told the boys over dinner was that legend places its inception during the Hundred Years War. Legend says that while the English lay siege on Castelnaudary, the French were threatened with famine. To feed the soldiers, the people pooled their resources, adding bacon, pork beans, sausages, and meats to simmer in a large cauldron. Bolstered by the filling meal, the soldiers succeeded in forcing the English to retreat all the way to the edge of the Channel. Not sure about the veracity of that legend, but we liked it!

I have made cassoulet before. But these days of being sheltered in place have inspired me to revisit recipes that require longer prep times. I made some Kouign Amann recently. All that rolling and chilling and folding and rolling again don't happen very often. Thankfully, I had duck breasts and venison sausages in my freezer, though the stock I made was from a whole chicken. But, this was a nice project for the day. A whole day.

      

Ingredients

Stock

• 1 whole chicken
• 10 cloves garlic
• 10 fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 shallots, peeled and sliced
• 2 to 3 carrots, cut into chunks
• 4 to 5 celery ribs, cut into chunks
• 2 green onions
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 whole juniper berries
• parsley sprigs
• black pepper
• 10 C water

Confit

• 4 duck breasts
• duck fat, as needed
• olive oil, as needed
• 6 to 8 cloves garlic
• 3 to 4 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary 

Cassoulet

• 4 C dried cannellini beans
• small bunch parsley, chopped, approximately 1 C
• 10 fresh thyme sprigs, destemmed so you have just the leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 2 medium onions, peeled and diced, approximately 2 C
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced, approximately 1 C
• 1 C diced celery
• duck confit (4 breasts)
• 3 C chicken stock + more if needed
• 2 C tomato sauce
• 3 T minced garlic
• 4 links sausage (I used a venison sausage)
• duck fat, as needed
• 2 C bread crumbs

Procedure

Stock

For the stock, place all of the ingredients into a large stock pot. Pour in 10 C water. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Cook for at least 2 hours, skimming any foam that forms on the top. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if needed.

Confit

Remove as much skin and fat as you can from the duck breasts and place that in a large saucepan. Over medium heat, render as much duck fat at you can. I got about 1 C from mine and added 2 C of pre-rendered duck fat to do the confit.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.  Place your duck breasts, garlic, bay leaves, and rosemary in a roasting pan; I had to use two smaller dishes, so two breasts in each pan. Add the duck fat (I used 3 C total) and olive oil to the pan until the meat is almost completely submerged. Cook in the oven for at least 90 minutes.

Cassoulet

In a large pot, place the beans. Cover them with water by about 3 inches. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand for 1 hour. Drain the liquid out and replace the water, covering the soaked beans, again, by about 3" water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook until the beans are tender, approximately 90 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a Dutch oven, or other heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid, melt 1 to 2 T duck fat. Add in the onions, celery, and fennel and stir to coat with the duck fat. Nestle the sausages into the veggies and pour in 2 C stock. Bring to a boil, then cover and place pot in the oven. Braise for 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes remove the pot from the oven. Pour in the tomato sauce and ladle in the beans. Stir in the minced garlic. Nestle the duck breast slices and bay leaves into the beans. Sprinkle in the thyme leaves and 1/2 C chopped parsley. Pour in the remaining stock and bring to a boil. Cover and return to the oven for another 90 minutes.

Remove the pot from the oven and sprinkle in the remaining parsley. Cover the top with breadcrumbs. Cover and return to the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the cover and bake for a final 15 to 20 minutes. The top should be dried and a crisp crust covering the entire dish.

Serve this immediately with a nice red wine.

If you can't finish off the pot, don't worry. This is just as good the next day as leftovers, too.

And that's a wrap for our April #WinePW look at Ancient World Wine Pairings. Next month we'll be back looking at skin-fermented wine with Martin of ENOFLYZ Wine Blog at the head. I can't wait. I'm pretty sure he's the one who first introduced me to the concept with a wine from Donkey & Goat Winery. Cheers.