Pot-au-feu
Pot-au-feu is one of my favourite comfort foods. While I was growing up it made regular appearances on our table and I still ask for it when I go home.
Nothing refined or fancy here, this is pretty much peasant food. The name translates to “pot on the fire” as this is how this dish got its start, a pot always left to simmer in the hearth, topped off with fresh ingredients when some of its content was used.
Composed of winter vegetables that keep well, the original version also has pork belly, marrow bones and cheap cuts of beef, which combined give lots of flavour and body to the broth. Some people simply can’t conceive of Pot-au-feu without the meat but I don’t miss it at all. I’ve found other ways of imparting hearty flavours to this dish.
The broth, specially in this vegetarian version, is instrumental. It needs to be rich and aromatic before you through you veges in otherwise you’ll end up with a boring dish. Since following this simple and ingenious lead, I always have more homemade broth then I can use so I start with that and enrich it with a few dried mushrooms and 1 or 2 full heads of garlic. See recipe bellow.
Ingredients
- 4 litres of strong vegetable stock
- 6 shiitake or other flavourful dried mushrooms
- 2 head of garlic, unpeeled and left whole
- 8 carrots
- 4 turnips
- 4 medium parsnips
- 1 large rutabaga, quartered
- 8 medium potatoes
- 4 leeks
- 4 branches of celery cut in half
- 4 onions
- 1 cabbage, quartered
- 1 bouquet garni
- 8 cloves
- 8 black pepper corn
- sea salt to taste
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) Earth Balance or other vegan butter
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
Serves 4
Put the stock in a large pot with the mushrooms, garlic, bouquet garni and black pepper corn. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered about 40 minutes or until reduced by half. Remove mushrooms and garlic and reserve.
Clean and trim all vegetables, leave them whole except where indicated. Prick the onions with 2 cloves each.
Add to the pot, carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabaga, potatoes, cabbage and salt to taste and simmer for 10 minutes. Add leeks, celery, onions and cook for an other 10 to 15 minutes until all vegetables are done. Remove from heath. Adjust seasoning to taste, add vegan butter and stir well into the broth.
In a small bowl, press the cooked garlic from its skin, add 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil and salt to taste. Mix well. Serve as a side with warm bread.
Serve the Pot-au-feu with coarse sea salt, cornichons and good french bread to dunk in the broth. Dijon mustard is also traditionally served with this dish but I don’t feel that it is necessary with this vegetarian version.
Pair with a simple French red such as a vin de pays des Collines-Rhodaniennes or light and fragrant Cabernet franc from the middle Loire.
Vegan & Demanding 