Fall vegetables: Two warming dishes for these longer nights
The arrival of shorter, cooler days always makes me want to spend extra time in the kitchen, said Nigel Slater in Greenfeast: Autumn, Winter (Ten Speed Press). At this time of year, my cooking is “every bit as plant-based as the food I make in the summer; it just has a bit more heft to it.” Many of my dinners start in a heavy pan on the stove and end in the oven, and though most of the dishes have simple foundations, I look to fold in ingredients that make them “both substantial and deeply satisfying.”
Below are two such comforting recipes: roasted parsnips that get a lift from porcini and goat cheese, and fennel cooked in cream.
Remove parsnips from oven when they are golden and lightly crisp. Spoon on gravy and dollops of goat cheese. Serves 4.
Fennel, cream, and pine nuts
1 lb plus 10 oz fennel (about 3 bulbs) Olive oil
½ cup heavy cream
1½ oz fresh white bread (about 1 slice) ½ cup parsley leaves
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
Salt and black pepper
¼ cup pine nuts
Preheat oven to 425. Trim fennel, then slice lengthwise into pieces no thicker than a pencil. Warm a thin layer of olive oil in an ovenproof frying pan. Add fennel, a few pieces at a time if there isn’t room for all at once, and let cook until pale gold. Remove pan from heat, pour in cream, and set aside.
Tear up the bread and place it in the bowl of a food processor. Add parsley, grated orange zest, a little salt and black pepper, and pine nuts. Process briefly to create a rough-textured crumb mixture.
Scatter the seasoned bread crumb mixture over the surface of the fennel and cream. Drizzle olive oil over the crumbs. Bake in oven until the cream is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Serves 2.