Braise mix: navet, potato, leek, fennel bulb, curly cabbage, and apple

The good thing about the braise method is that you can cook up a damn good pot of food with almost anything you have on hand. Take today, for instance. We’re well into January already, but we still have days to go until we receive our next pannier of fruits and legumes, which means that we have an odd assortment of ingredients. What we came up with is this, which will give your system a winter jolt of vitamins and minerals, plus a little protein.

So, it’s just a matter of chopping everything into small bits and soon the braise pot is filled to the brim with navet, potato, leek, fennel bulb, curly cabbage, apple, and some crumbled tofu. The basic set added over the next couple of hours as it simmers on the stove: miso, garlic spread, bio curry mix, curcumin, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, raisins.

This particular braise mix had a distinctive flavor reminiscent of fruits rather than roots, probably because of the apples and raisins, but also from the cabbage, which was mild and slightly sweet. This is a reminder that every preparation of every recipe turns out different from any other, for any number of factors, including the quality and condition of the ingredients. Seasonal ingredients means that you are using sources close to home, and that is good. By reducing the dependance on long-transit groceries, we’re conserving energy and eating healthier. Even if the aubergines are bio (on sale now at the local supermarket chain), they’re from a long ways off, this time of year.

At the moment here in Catalan country, we are at the peak of winter produce, so anything cooked with potatoes and navets, black radish and céleri rave is going to be fresh. This means better flavor as well as better nutrition. There is some coefficient probably of the correlation between the time a head of broccoli is cut off the stem in the garden and when it is finally eaten. The quicker and less-processed you can be, the better.

We had this with a good serving of azuki beans. The flavors went together very well, with the surprising sweetness of the braise mix contrasting with the salty, earthy flavor of the beans.

This is very good to have on a cold, gray winter day, such as the one we are having right now. In fact, it has been so dark and cold for the past few days, we have hardly been out at all. We aren’t the only ones. Not a sound have we heard from people the street, and only the occasional car passing by down at the corner on the main route through town.