I’m keeping my word. When earlier today I post by review for Bistro by Alain Ducasse, I promised to post this singular recipe.
Suz and I are traveling for a few days but, but when we return we have a dinner party and this dish is on the menu.
Think about cooking veggies. Easy, right? A little butter or olive oil. Or maybe some boiling water. A few moments and the veggies are done and on the side of the plate where they belong because, after all, they are a side dish. Do we ever show respect to a mere side dish?
Suzi and I have had the pleasure, no the awesome experience, of eating at Alain Ducasse restaurants. We know the staff works 7X24.
Here’s why it is 7X24. This is not a quick recipe. It is a recipe you have to try and then you will experience wonder. I know because I have eaten some of the sauces from Ducasse that occupied those 24 hours.
Here’s the summary: make a rich beef broth, cut up the veggies, poach them individually in the broth, reduce the broth, add vinegar and olive oil, and anoint the veggies with this upgraded sauce. Rich and intense.
Why cook the veggies by type? You want to achieve consistency in the final texture and quality. Each veggie differs in terms of density and water content. Cook them all together, and you get a culinary compromise. Cook them individually, and you get what Ducasse calls French Comfort Food. Deep comfort.
Country Style Vegetables in Beef Broth
Yield: serves 6 to 8
Ingredients:
Beef Broth:
- 3 pounds 4 ounces beef plate
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 leek
- 2 yellow onions
- 1 marrow bone
- Coarse gray sea salt
- 15 black peppercorns
- 1 bouquet garni
Vegetables:
- 2 savoy cabbage leaves
- 4 medium carrots, with greens
- 4 golden ball turnips
- 4 purple-top white globe turnips
- 4 celery hearts
- 4 pencil-thin leeks
- 7 ounces celeriac (about 1 medium)
Finishing:
- Coarsely ground pepper
- Fleur de sel
- ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon aged red wine vinegar
- 3 ½ tablespoons olive oil
Preparation:
Make the Beef Broth:
Completely defat the meat. Peel the carrot and celery. Split the leek lengthwise and wash thoroughly. Peel and halve the onions lengthwise and char them in a skillet or frying pan.
Blanch the meat for 5 minutes in boiling water, then rinse in clean water. Put the meat, marrow bone, gray sea salt, carrot, celery, leek, charred onions, peppercorns, and bouquet garni in a stockpot. Place a piece of parchment paper cut to size over the ingredients to ensure that they remain completely immersed, and cover with water. Simmer for 4 hours. Filter the broth, one ladle at a time, through a conical strainer (sieve) into a saucepan, then set aside.
Make the Vegetables:
Remove the thick central rib of the cabbage leaves, and cut the leaves into large triangles. Peel and turn* the carrots and turnips, leaving their greens intact. Halve the celery hearts lengthwise. Thoroughly wash the leeks to remove all grit, and trim them to keep only one-third of the green parts. Peel the celeriac. Cut out a 1 ¼-inch thick slice and cut this into triangles with 2-inch sides.
Bring the beef broth to a boil in a saucepan and poach each vegetable separately. Prick with a knife tip to check for doneness: They should be very tender. Shock quickly in ice water, then set aside.
Finishing:
Reduce the broth and season it well with coarsely ground pepper and fleur de sel. Reheat all of the vegetables in it. Transfer the vegetables to a serving bowl. Season the reduced broth with the vinegar and oil. Dress the vegetables with the beef broth vinaigrette.
Source: Bistro by Alain Ducasse [Rizzoli, 2018]