Here’s another River Cottage Veg Every Day inspired recipe.
Ready for serving, with some lovely crisp potatoes at the top
I started this recipe wanting to keep as close as possible to the original, which I’ve copied in below. But we had a couple of bits of veg in that needed using, so I swapped the onion out for leeks and we had some beef from the previous night, so I popped that in as the second layer hoping for it to release some of its lovely meaty juices in the cooking.
3 Root Boulangere : Original Recipe & Instructions
Ingredients
- 30g butter
- 2 onions, halved and sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 small celeriac
- 2 large potatoes
- 3 large parsnips
- a couple of sprigs of thyme, leaves only, chopped
- 3 sage leaves, finely chopped
- about 1.2 litres vegetable stock
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven the 180C/gas 4. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and use some of it to grease a large gratin dish. Add the onions to the pan and sauté over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until soft, then add the garlic and cook gently for a further minute or two.
Meanwhile, peel the celeriac, potatoes and parsnips and cut into slices the thickness of a 10p piece, slicing the parsnips lengthways. Spread out the celeriac in the gratin dish, season generously with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with half the onions and half the herbs. Layer the parsnips on top, then scatter the remaining onions and herbs on top and finish with a layer of potatoes.
Bring the stock to a simmer and add some salt and pepper, then pour over the vegetables to barely cover them (you may not need all of it). Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and continue to bake for another 30 minutes or so until the vegetables are cooked.
At this point, if there is still liquid covering the potatoes, spoon off a little and return the dish to the oven for 15 minutes or so, to brown the potatoes on the top. Serve piping hot.
Humble beginnings… For some reason I forgot to put the potatoes in this pic!
Note:
I had to cook the dish for approximately 90 mins, rather than the 60 that Hugh advises. I think was due to 2 factors; whilst I put boiling water over the veg when putting the dish together, I made the dish before I went back out to do a couple of gym sessions with clients, this meant that the dish was cold when it went in the oven a few hours later. Secondly, I used whole uncooked Leeks rather than fried onions and these would have had more water to heat up and boil off inside them. I also added a few blobs of butter for the last 15 mins of cooking to help the potatoes crisp up nicely.
How did it taste?
Very earthy, rounded and with a hint of sweetness. I suspect this came from each of the veg, as they are all carb rich, so when they cook, the starches will start to breakdown to sugars, adding a hint of sweetness. I found the dish on its own very satisfying, but Lela need to have all the meat, so I donated most of my meat to her, she is quite a meat eater!
Boulangere?
I was wondering about where this recipe comes from, I speak a little French, and new that ‘boulangere’ must have some relation to ‘boulangerie’ (bakery), so I had a wander around the internet and came up with this answer:
Boulangère means ‘baker’ in French and Pommes Boulangère, I’m told, means ‘potatoes of the baker’s wife,’ which came about because after the bakers had finished baking their bread for the day the local ladies would take their pot of potatoes to bake in their ovens as they cooled down. True story, as told to me in the local boulangère in the lovely quaint town of Cabri in France.
Got to love stories like that!
From http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/bbq-lamb-chops-w-root-veg-boulangere-fid-728561
Finely chopped leeks for the bottom layer.
roast beef layer for the 3 root boulangere
parsnips and celeriac ready for the 3 root boulangere
the dish is ready for baking!
2 Responses to 4 Root Boulangere – Veg Recipe
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George 'Adventures In Health' HarrisCheck out my blog for all sorts of goodies related to health, fitness, lifestyle, diet and the great outdoors. I write this blog so you can learn, grow and feel better, I warmly accept your questions!
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What a fabulous take on a fabulous recipe. I often make this with potatoes, but not with meat and the other veg included. It’s kind of like a hot pot now I think! Looks very scrummy!
Thank you for your kind words.
A hot pot is very much what it’s leaning toward. But not the hotpot of my youth, when the only place I experienced it was at rugby clubs, served post-match.
On those occasions the hotpot came as more of a meat and potato mix with a shortcrust pastry topping. Very tasty, but not your average hotpot.
I think the variation I’ve used would also go well served as an accompaniment to a roast, or to some sort of oven cooked fish….
George