MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN: WELCOME TO WINTER VEGETABLES

Inspiration! Leafy chard heralds winter vegetables.

The chard, kale and broccoli in my huerta (vegetable garden) won’t be ready until, at least, the winter solstice. But the markets already are heaped with autumn-to-winter produce. It was this bunch of leafy chard that inspired me to cook up a menestra, a vegetable medley featuring winter vegetables.

Menestra comes from the same Latin root (ministrare, “to dish up”) as Italian minestra and minestrone. In Spain, it’s not a soup but a vegetable mélange, incorporating both fresh seasonal vegetables and vegetables en conserva, canned ones.

In home-style meals, menestra is typically served as a starter, instead of soup, to be followed by a main course of meat, or else as a main dish for a lighter lunch or supper. Restaurants dish up a simplified menestra as a side dish (find it in the frozen foods section).

The menestra I learned to make in Andalusia, with fava beans and peas, usually has tomatoes—fresh ones or canned tomate frito. But the menestra of Navarra, La Rioja and Euskadi (Basque Country) does not. Sometimes, though, it has enough pimentón, paprika, to give it a reddish color.

Chard, carrots, beans, potatoes cooked in a savory sauce are topped with a refrito of garlic and ham.

Chard stems and leaves are like two different vegetables in one.

Serve menestra as a starter or light main dish.

Garnish the dish with cooked egg or add a poached egg per person for a more substantial dish.

Serving options: press the menestra into a circular mold. I added cauliflower to the mélange on the second day.

While this is a very old and traditional dish, it has plenty of “modern” interpretations. Traditionally, the vegetables are very well cooked. Overcooked, we might say today. And finished in a flour-thickened sauce. Newer versions call for cooking the veggies al dente or even grilling them, then combining in a sauce made with pureed vegetables. Sometimes the chard greens are chopped, rolled into balls, dipped in flour and beaten egg and fried. Served with the menestra, they give textural contrast. Dress up the humble menestra with lashings of ibérico ham on top and alongside. Turn menestra into a vegetarian main by using vegetable stock, omitting the ham and serving with egg.

Use chicken stock or the vegetable cooking water to finish cooking the vegetables. A pinch of baking soda to cook the chard stems keeps them nice and green. However, the cooking liquid tends to darken if it sets.

Other vegetables to use in the menestra are borage (borraja), cardoons (cardo), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms or canned vegetables such as artichokes. (See the link below for a recipe for springtime menestra with fresh artichokes, asparagus, peas and fava beans.)

I’m making a traditional menestra—a very comforting dish for winter.

Medley of Winter Vegetables

Menestra de Verduras de Invierno

Serves 6 as a starter or side; 4 as a main dish.

1 ½-pound bunch of chard

Pinch of baking soda

3 carrots (10 ounces)

1-2 potatoes (10 ounces)

6-8 ounces romano (flat) green beans

8 ounces cauliflower florets

Salt

7 tablespoons olive oil

1leek, sliced

½ cup chopped onions

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups stock or vegetable water

3-4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

1 ounce diced serrano ham

Eggs, hard-boiled or poached (optional)

Separate the stems and leaves of the chard. Strip away fibrous threads from the stems and cut them into 2-inch lengths. Bring a pan of salted water to a boil. Add a pinch of baking soda and the chard stems. Cook them until tender when pierced with a knife, about 8 minutes. Skim the chard out with a slotted spoon and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking.

Roll and slice chard leaves into ribbons.

Slice the chard greens into ribbons. Add them to the pan of boiling water and cook until they are very tender, 10 minutes. Drain the chard leaves in a colander, pressing out excess liquid.

Bring another pan of salted water to a boil. Cook the carrots until tender, 10 minutes. Remove them and rinse in cold water. Cook the potatoes until tender, 10 minutes, and drain them. Cook the green beans to desired doneness, 4 minutes for crisp-tender, 12 minutes for very well cooked. Drain well. (If desired, keep the cooking water to finish cooking the vegetables in their sauce.)

Bring a fresh pot of water to a boil and add the cauliflower. Cook until crisp-tender, 4 minutes, and drain. Refresh in cold water.

Cook each vegetable separately before combining in the sauce. In the center are chard stems. Clockwise from the top are chard leaves, sliced leeks, green beans, sliced garlic, carrots, potatoes and diced serrano ham.

In a cazuela or deep skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil. Sauté the leeks and onions until they are very soft, 10 minutes. Moderate the heat so the onions don’t brown.

Add the cooked carrots, potatoes and cauliflower to the pan with 1 tablespoon more oil. Sauté these vegetables 4 minutes. Move them to the outer edge of the pan and add the flour. Drizzle the flour with 1 tablespoon oil and stir to mix it in. Then stir the flour into the vegetables.

Use stock or vegetable cooking water for sauce.

Add the stock or vegetable water. Cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Cook it gently 5 minutes. Add the beans, chard stems and chard leaves. Combine well and cook gently until all the vegetables are thoroughly heated.

Heat remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a small skillet. Add the sliced garlic and fry it until it just begins to brown. Remove the pan from the heat and add the diced ham.

Retrito of garlic and ham.

Serve the vegetables and sauce on a platter or in a bowl and spoon the garlic, ham and oil on top. Add quartered cooked eggs or poached eggs, if desired.