La saison des choux

Yesterday I went to the supermarket (Intermarché in Noyers-sur-Cher). I bought, among other items, a cauliflower. 'Tis the season. It was beautiful and was on sale for just two euros per head. Last week, at another supermarket, I saw heads of cauliflower (chou-fleur) that weren't as nearly as pretty selling for 3.69 euros apiece, so I figure I got a bargain. I'll make a gratin de chou-fleur tomorrow, using smoked pork lardons, Comté cheese (an Alpine or "Swiss" cheese made in eastern France), and a béchamel sauce. And don't forget, you can cook and eat the green leaves of the cauliflower the way you would cook and serve other greens.

Yesterday at Intermarché I also bought two kilograms (nearly five pounds) of raw sauerkraut (choucroute crue; good luck pronouncing that). It's also available pre-cooked, but I prefer to cook it myself, with onions, carrots, bay leaves, duck fat, white wine, smoked chicken, smoked sausages, and thick slices of smoked bacon. Sauerkraut is made from heads of chou blanc (white cabbage) that has been cut into strips and fermented in salt water. The soaking makes it much easier to digest than cabbage that has not undergone fermentation.

I've posted about choucroute many times before; for example here. The two kilos of choucroute was a bucket full, as you can see, and the raw kraut fit in two large containers that will go into the freezer. Notice the label and the information it gives, the most important being the ingredients: Chou, sel. No additives. To reduce the amount of salt in the finished dish, rinse the raw choucroute well in cold water before you cook it.