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serve, in a small bowl, toss the cilantro sprigs with the vinegar and salt. Transfer the meatballs and their sauce to a serving dish and strew the dressed sprigs over the top. Serve right away.
    Toulouse Sausage
    I opened Pig-by-the-Tail because I wanted to bring to the American marketplace the charcuterie I had fallen in love with on sojourns to France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Austria. Two years after its debut, I decided it was time to put some “bones” onto that passion. I traveled to France to learn from M. Roger Gleize, the charcutier in the small town of Revel in the Haute-Garonne just outside of Toulouse. It was an eye-opening experience to watch him use a hand grinder to grind pounds and pounds of perfectly succulent pork, not too lean, not too fat, for the region’s specialty Toulouse sausage. He seasoned the meat with salt, peppers, and a dash each of nutmeg and sugar, and then added a soupçon of water to moisten the mixture for easier stuffing. He fitted the same manual machine with a sausage-stuffing funnel and proceeded to turn out a seemingly endless supply of fresh Toulouse sausages. Everything he made was quickly purchased by local households to use for their daily meals and by local restaurants to include in the renowned cassoulet of the region.
    From that sojourn, I carried home a deep admiration for simply, yet perfectly done ways with food, and Toulouse sausage became one of my go-to household sausages. For this book, I have modified the recipe to call for bulk sausage, rather than links. But, if you would like to follow tradition, use hog casing.
    MAKES 2¼ POUNDS
    2 pounds ground pork
    ¼ pound salt pork, fat only, minced
    ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
    ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
    1½ teaspoons sugar
    1½ teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste, if needed
    ¼ cup water
    Place the pork, salt pork, black pepper, white pepper, nutmeg, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix with your hands to distribute the seasonings evenly. Add the water and continue mixing with your hands until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Cook and taste a small sample, then add more salt if needed. Leave in bulk and shape as directed in individual recipes or stuff into hog casing. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to firm.
    Sauté or grill, or cook as directed in individual recipes. (The uncooked sausage will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 week.)

Lunch Pie, aka Quiche, with Toulouse Sausage and Spinach
    In the 1970s, when everyone and their sisters and brothers became enchanted with French cooking, with Julia Child leading the way, quiche became
the
savory custard pie. The classic, quiche Lorraine, made with bacon and Gruyère cheese to enrich the custard, enjoyed star status as an elegant staple for brunch or for a first course in a multitiered dinner à la français. Variations in great numbers soon followed, and quiche in one or another guise turned into a favorite on buffet tables and appetizer menus. Here, with Toulouse sausage and a green splotch of spinach, the lovable custard-in-a-crust reinvents itself into an uncomplicated light dinner.
    Even though it is easier to purchase a prepared pastry crust, to settle for that is to miss the flaky, unctuous mouth delight of a homemade one. A food processor provides a quick, simple, and almost hands-free way to make an exceptional crust. A removable-bottom tart pan, such as the type the French would use for quiche and sweet dessert tarts, makes it easy to present the pie standing alone rather than in a dish, which is more awkward to serve from.
    MAKES ONE 9- TO 10-INCH PIE, SERVES 4 TO 6
    Crust
    1¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
    Pinch of salt
    ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
    2 tablespoons chilled water
    Filling
    2 cups packed coarsely chopped fresh spinach leaves
    Extra virgin olive oil, for cooking
    ¼ pound Toulouse Sausage , crumbled
    2 large eggs
    ¾