“Southwest” is a word that means two very different things in France and in America. Whereas in the States, the southwest evokes flavors like corn, black beans, and chile, in France, the southwest is all about duck fat, chicken liver, and charcuterie. But those weren’t the differences I had to tackle when cooking up crépinettes at home.
My intention was to prepare these little parcels of pork I’ve come to love since discovering them at my local meat co-op atop a salad inspired by the American southwest, with guacamole, corn, and beans. Of course, I didn’t have black beans, which tend to be hard to come by in France, but rather lentils. And things started to go downhill from there.
You see, The Country Boy is not a phenomenal fan of lentils, which I suppose I can understand: he grew up eating them pretty much every day as part of his school lunch, and for someone who isn’t that big a fan of pulses in general, I can see how that would be a deterrent. It was because of the lentils that I started to assemble two very different salads – par for the course, for this house, and something that I find to be an interesting challenge.
In most cases, when I make a large salad for dinner, TCB’s plate begins very differently from mine: with a base of rice or quinoa, which he finds more filling than the spinach I prefer. I then heap on the ingredients he loves: corn, extra guac, and fried red onions, with a bit of sliced tomato.
My plate, meanwhile, starts with a base of greens – often baby spinach, these days, but sometimes arugula. I had slightly less corn and guacamole than TCB, with a nice spoonful of French Puy lentils as well as my all-time-favorite-homemade-kraut rounding out the plate.
This is just one example of how, most days, our dinner starts with the same elements but quickly evolves to include what we prefer. It really doesn’t take me much more effort than making the exact same thing for each of us would, and it makes us both happy.
Crépinette with Southwestern Salad, Two Ways (serves 2)
2 avocados
1 tomato
1 lime, juiced
1 red onion
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon duck fat
2 crépinettes
1/2 cup cooked Puy lentils
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
salt and pepper
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup baby spinach
1 250-gram can corn
1/4 cup homemade sauerkraut
Dice the avocado and place in a bowl. Dice half of the tomato and half of the onion and add to the avocado. Season with salt and pepper and mash slightly. Season with lime juice and set aside.
Slice the remaining half of the onion. Heat the duck fat and add the onion and the crépinettes to the pan. Cook, stirring the onion occasionally and flipping the crépinettes after five minutes. Cook for five minutes more, then remove from the pan and set aside.
Toss the lentils with the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, and set aside.
Line each of the bowls with the base of your choosing, then top with the ingredients you like. Enjoy!