Braised Winter Vegetables Recipes

WINE-BRAISED DUCK WITH LENTILS AND WINTER VEGETABLES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Trim the duck legs, keeping the skin intact but removing any extraneous fat. Lay them in one layer on a baking sheet and season generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
• Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Add duck legs, skin-side down, and cook until nicely browned, about 10 minutes. (The legs will render a fair amount of fat as they cook.) Flip and cook for about 5 minutes more, until lightly browned. Remove legs from pan and set aside.
• Pour off all but 3 tablespoons fat from the pan (reserve it for another use). Place pan back on the stove over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery, salt lightly, and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in bay leaf, thyme sprig, fennel seed and allspice. Continue to cook, stirring, until vegetable mixture is lightly browned, about 5 minutes more.
• Add tomato paste and flour to vegetable mixture and stir well to coat. Cook for a minute or so, then add chicken broth and wine and bring to a simmer. Return duck legs to pan in one layer, skin-side up. (The liquid will not completely cover the legs.)
• Cover pan and bake for about 45 minutes, until legs are tender when probed with the tip of a paring knife.
• Cook the lentils: Pick over lentils for rocks and debris, then rinse well. Place in a saucepan with a good pinch of salt. Using the cloves, pin the bay leaf to the onion. Add to the pot along with thyme sprig. Cover lentils with water by about 2 inches and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered with lid ajar, until tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. Taste often so that lentils are neither under nor over-cooked. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
• When duck legs are cooked, remove from the oven and reduce the heat to 225 degrees. Transfer duck legs to an ovenproof serving dish, cover, and keep warm in the oven. Pour braising liquid into a saucepan. Spoon off any fat that rises to the surface and discard. Simmer braising liquid over medium heat until slightly thickened. Pour liquid over duck legs in the serving dish.
• Meanwhile, cook the vegetables: Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add carrots, celery root and parsnips. Simmer until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes, then drain and toss gently with butter. Sprinkle with half the parsley and chives.
• To serve, place a duck leg, some lentils and a spoonful of vegetables on each plate. Spoon sauce over duck leg and finish with more parsley and chives. Alternatively, pass everything on platters, family-style.

BRAISED WINTER VEGETABLES AU VIN (MEAT-FREE VERSION OF COQ AU VIN)

Steps:

• In a hot stockpot coated with oil, brown ginger, black beans, chiles, garlic and onions for about 3 minutes. Add carrots, celery and fennel. Season. Deglaze with wines and add the potatoes and chick peas. Add the bay, thyme and soy sauce and check for seasoning. Add vegetable stock to cover and bring to a slow boil. Simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until potatoes are fully cooked. For the last 10 minutes of cooking, add the bok choy and check again for flavor. In a large bowl, fill it with the vegetables and sauce. Garnish.
• Place veggies in a food processor and puree. Reheat puree in a saucepan. Mix creme fraiche and eggplant puree together. Ladle soup into a bowl and garnish with a dollop of creme fraiche mixed with eggplant puree.
• Yield: depends on leftovers

WINTER VEGETABLES BRAISED IN VERMOUTH

Steps:

• Wash the fennel, then remove the outer layer if it is tough. Cut the bulb in half, then slice into pieces about a half inch across and three inches long. Remove the leaves and chop them finely.
• Peel the carrots and cut them into slices about the size of the fennel pieces. Wipe the mushrooms clean, discard the tough stems and cut the caps into slices about a quarter-inch thick.
• Melt the butter in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add the fennel and carrots and stir until they are coated. Add the vermouth, cover partway and simmer for five minutes. Add the mushroom slices, cover the pan partway again and simmer for an additional five minutes.
• Remove the cover, stir in the cream and reserved fennel leaves and cook until the liquid thickens a bit and the vegetables are tender but not limp. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

THREE-IN-ONE BRAISED VEGETABLES

Steps:

• Tip the sprouts and carrots into a pan and cover with boiling water. Sprinkle in the stock cube, add the butter and bring to the boil.
• Simmer for 8-10 mins until the veg are tender. Add peas and cook a few mins more.
• Rest the veg in the stock until you want to make the gravy, then drain over the roasting tin.