Bistro Montage's Cassoulet
This Thanksgiving, I had the pleasure of visiting one of my favorite cities, Des Moines, Iowa, the jewel of the Midwest that gave us Cloris Leachman, the Academy Award winning actress, Edwin Perkins, the inventor of Kool-Aid, and oh yeah, Kuzak, too.
For many of us, any mention of Iowa instantly conjures up images of corn fields, but in recent years, Des Moines has undergone a serious food renaissance! In part this is due to the national spotlight it enjoys during the presidential primaries, and this last election, a camp of celebrity-like candidates made the city their home away from home, and a candidate needs to eat more than hot dogs and ice cream, especially one with a professed love for arugula (you know, the elitist Obama!). But this is also due to the fact that the city boasts a culinary school - the Iowa Culinary Institute at the Des Moines Area Community College. Educate your populace, and the community will reap the benefits, or this case, they'll eat them, literally!
