One Good Ritual

“Accidentally vegan”

Goal

I wanted to make a vegetable stew that was as hearty as a meat based stew. The added benefit of this is that for our office potluck, the stew is vegan so now I can invite my vegan colleague to participate.

And mini batards for tearing and dipping, because that’s justice.

What’s in the stew?

Standard mirepoix of Onions, carrots, celery, leeks.

Homemade vegetable stock consisting of:
Carrot whole, peel, and trimmings
Sweet potato peel and trimmings
Leftover onion halves
Dried shiitake mushrooms
Celery
Leek

I reserved the bulk of these but added some for roast flavor and color :
Roasted butternut squash
Roasted sweet potatoes
Roasted carrots
Roasted king oyster mushrooms

Half a bag of baby spinach.

Chopped scallion for topping.

It’s thick

After about an hour of reducing down the 2L of stock I blended the entire pot and checked for seasoning and viscosity.

Addition of balsamic vinegar (lightly aged, not the thick stuff), white vinegar, salt, and xanthan gum. Blended again, but did not pass through a chinois. I wanted to keep some texture to help preserve the hearty feeling.

Why it works

Texture – By not passing it through a chinois it maintains slight granularity. Adheres to spoon and, more importantly, bread. Excellent dipping stew without diving too far into velouté territory. If it was strained through a chinois though this might make a great soup for sipping, but it risks acting too much like a posh, fancy restaurant starter.

Spinach – Absolutely necessary to get some leafy green in here. With most of the roasted veg being orange, some color was needed to breakup the warm orange canvas. More importantly, the spinach brings in some necessary bitterness and vegetal lift.

Split vegetable textures – Simmering some of the veg and adding in some of the roasted veg really widened the flavor, bit of brown and a bit of that clear broth. This carried over to the finished meal as well; I reserved the bulk of the roasted veg in order to add in after heating so that some texture remains rather than having all puree.

Future Improvements

Greek yogurt – Non-vegan, but I think this would absolutely elevate the bowl as well as provide some necessary protein. I see this as a creme fraiche or heavy cream swirl. Would provide nice tang, protein for a more complete meal without having to include beans.

Beans – Could be nice, but then it becomes bean forward rather than vegetable forward. Could blend the beans but that seems inelegant.

Greens – Arugula, bok choy, broccoli flourets

Stock – The vegetable stock was actually extremely flavorful, but I’d like to test my limits here and see just how much flavor I can pack into it before adding to the stew.