Last Night's Dinner 13

A quick and simple one pot braise

It is the time of year when I - unlike most people I know - am longing for the clocks to change. I am usually up at silly o’clock, waiting for it to be light enough for me to go out. And I am always champing at the bit this time of year because the dawns are just so spectacular. They are less gradual - the light turns from a deep, warm indigo to - on clear nights and mornings - a dramatic, mist infused sunrise, with less of the creeping grey which seems to go on for hours before a summer pre dawn.

It is also the season when one pot braises really come into their own. I always seem more time pressed in autumn (or at least, I want more sofa time, or more time for baking and preserving, rather than preparing evening meals, and yes Christmas prep is underway here) and always want to cook things such as these which take moments to put together and, with a pressure cooker, just a few minutes to cook. I imagine most people associate the term braise with cuts of meat which need slow, low stove top cooking to tenderise (or the faster pressure cooker equivalent, which, in my experience, does the job much better), but the braises we eat at home most frequently are based around whatever vegetables I have, with meat as the accent. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I am a big fan of using a small amount of meat for flavour - and pressure cooking pushes that flavour right through.

The other thing at the forefront of mind when cooking at the moment - more so than usual, at least - is getting as much nutrition into the meal as possible. Gut health is really important to all of us, as is getting as much variety into our diets as possible. I find that it is quite easy to get upwards of 30 different plant based ingredients into my diet, daily, let alone weekly as advised as all the herbs and spices count. And I like incorporating preserved/fermented elements too. This dish has a relatively good variety of vegetables. And I stirred in some kimchi and cheese, preferably raw, at the end. I always have kimchi in the house. It is very easy (and much cheaper than buying) to make. It is stirred in at the end so as to preserve its probiotic qualities.

If you think this is a strange combination of flavours, please trust me! You end up with a smoky, caramalised flavour from bacon and onions, creamy comfort from potatoes and cheese, a slight bitter from the leaves and heat/sweetness/funkiness from the kimchi. They work well together, I promise.

As usual though, use this as a blueprint and swap out ingredients as you like. A few dried and fresh mushrooms would work in place of the bacon, you can use any root vegetables you like, and any greens you like too. If you are using kale, collards or chard, add them with the potatoes and just do one cook. Any others, follow the recipe as written. And finally, if you want heat but not kimchi, stirring in some harissa paste (I like the Belazu smoked one) or any other kind of chilli will work.

Before I get onto the recipe proper, a quick note on cooking sprout tops -

In the braise below they are looking the murky side of green - this is because I left them to stand and then had to reheat because not everyone was ready for dinner when they were supposed to be. Usually I cook them minimally so they maintain their colour - throwing them into the pressure cooker with a little water and pressure cooking for zero minutes to 30 seconds depending quite how tender you want them and how tough the outer leaves are, is usually plenty. Fast release.

CAVEAT ON COOKING GREENS: this is something that comes up a lot at demos. Everybody’s pressure cooker/heat source works slightly differently - it may be that your hob settings means it takes slightly longer for your cooker to come up to pressure than it does on mine and vice versa, the size, brand, PSI/kPa of the cooker also makes a difference to how fast it will come up to pressure. This will always impact on how long things take to cook. 30 seconds here or there doesn’t usually matter, but it does when cooking greens, when it can be the difference between al dente and overcooked. So try my timings first and then tweak according to your initial results. And always, always go with the shortest time first.

And here (above) is a favourite lunch thing for one (maybe two) I do throughout the autumn and winter. The pressure cooker is heated and I add oil, mushrooms, onion or leek. I let the mushrooms brown a bit, stir in garlic, maybe ginger, then add a head of sprout tops. Then a splash of liquid, up to high pressure and immediate fast release. This one was dressed in a little ponzu (soy mixed with citrus juice, you can do them separately), with a drizzle of sesame oil and seeds. This will work with all greens - I like using kalettes too - and just as in today’s main recipe I suggest swapping bacon for mushrooms, here you can do the same in reverse.

A Kimchi Flavoured Braise

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil or dripping

4 rashers streaky bacon, finely diced

2 red onions, cut into slim wedges

2 sticks celery, sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 kg potatoes, thickly sliced (skin left on if it’s OK)

1 large sprout top, or 2 small, or a small green or savoy cabbage, shredded

A small bunch coriander

100g kimchi

75g (or as much as you like, my son, always greedy for cheese, would add twice as much) hard cheese, preferably a raw one, grated

A sprinkling of gochugaru (Korean chilli) or any other chilli powder/flakes you like