Not-Roasted Winter Vegetable Bowls
This recipe is an outright showcase of winter produce. We’re bringing together the umami, vegetal, sweet, herbaceous, and gently bitter flavor notes that characterize the darker months in a symphony of textures: creamy, snappy, crunchy, and tender. As always with the savory recipes here at Elevation Kitchen, we provide you with an outline of the dish as we developed it as well as suggestions on variations for each component that will work together similarly for an equally delicious end result.
The main components of these bowls are:
White winter vegetable mash
Shiitake and shallot duxelles
Balsamic charred carrots and asparagus
Walnut rosemary pesto massaged kale
Pan-seared sausage
Instructions
White Winter Vegetable Mash
Heat butter in a high-sided skillet or wide pot over medium until melted. Sautee onions until translucent, then add remaining vegetables and toss. Cover pan with a lid to allow the vegetables to steam. Check on them every few minutes, tossing to expose all sides to the heat. When vegetables are fork tender, add wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up any dark bits, and cook until the alcohol smell from the wine has disappeared.
Carefully transfer the vegetable mixture to a food processor. Add pepper and milk and process until smooth. Taste, and add salt and/or additional pepper as needed.
Shiitake and Shallot Duxelles
Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter or olive oil, if using. When pan (and oil) is hot, add mushrooms in an even layer. Leave the mushrooms, undisturbed, to cook until most of their moisture has released, they are golden brown, and can readily release from the pan. Toss once, then leave to cook undisturbed for another few minutes until thoroughly browned on most sides.
Add shallots and celery and cook until softened. Add garlic and cook for a few minutes. Deglaze pan with red wine, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom.
Add remaining ingredients through kale and cover to steam until kale is bright green. Add all remaining ingredients and sautee until most of the free liquid has been cooked out and the kale is dark and readily combining into the other vegetables.
Walnut Rosemary Pesto Massaged Kale
Pre-heat oven to 300°F. Roast walnuts in an even layer on a baking pan until golden brown, fragrant, and outer layer has gone from matte to shiny — 8-12 minutes. Assessing and tossing nuts around the 8 minute mark is a good way to ensure even roasting and catch any early burners.
While the nuts are roasting, massage kale with lemon and optional salt and oil. Be rough with it! You want to squeeze the astringents into the kale. It will reduce in volume by about half and become wet, softened, and deep dark green.
When the walnuts come out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes.
Add mostly-cooled walnuts, kale, and rosemary to a food processor and process until finely chopped. With the machine running, stream in olive oil. Add remaining ingredients and process until a homogeneous but chunky paste has formed. Taste for seasoning and add additional olive oil as desired to loosen texture.
Add about one-quarter cup of pesto to the kale and massage until evenly distributed. More or less can be used depending on your preference.
Balsamic Charred Carrots and Asparagus + Pan-Seared Sausage
Heat one medium and one small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add carrots cut-side down to the medium pan, carefully trying to nest them against each other (crowd them together on one side of the pan). Cover with a lid. Add sausages cut-side down to small pan. Cover with a lid. Cook, undisturbed, until the bottoms of the carrots and sausages begin to take on color — about 5 minutes. Leaving carrots where they are, add asparagus into the other half of the pan and replace the lid. Flip the sausages onto their round sides and replace the lid.
When carrot faces have partially charred, remove lid and toss pan to distribute vegetables. Add balsamic vinegar and shake pan to distribute, then quickly cover with lid to trap steam.
Rotate sausages to get any naked sides browned.
Add freshly cracked pepper to veggies and toss to combine. Check that carrots are fork-tender, then remove both pans from the heat.
Serving
If any components were pre-cooked for meal prep, add them to a bowl and reheat prior to final assembly. Don’t do this with the kale, though!
Build your bowl with a base of mash and kale, then layer on the duxelles and pan-seared vegetables and sausage.
Top with a sprinkling of any of the optional toppings, and enjoy!
Ingredients
White Winter Vegetable Mash
Any sweet root vegetables will work beautifully in this component of the dish. The cooking method is ubiquitous, and you can adjust the seasoning and liquid quantity as necessary with the water content and volume of your chosen vegetables.
1.5 T butter
1 medium sweet onion
1 small zucchini
3 medium parsnips
1 small white carrot
1 medium head cauliflower
2 oz white wine
1 t white pepper
¼ C unsweetened milk
Salt to taste (optional)
Shiitake and Shallot Duxelles
This is your sign to go to the local market or Whole Foods and grab all different varieties of edible mushrooms to try! We used shiitakes and creminis, but lions mane, maitake, chestnut, etc would all be delicious choices. Just match the weight in the recipe and anything can be easily substituted. For a more budget-friendly version, white button mushrooms work too!
1 T extra-virgin olive oil or butter (optional)
16 oz shiitake mushrooms, diced
24 oz cremini / baby bella mushrooms, diced
2 medium shallots, minced (can sub other alliums)
2 C finely diced celery
2 T minced garlic
Splash red wine
1 t freshly cracked black pepper
3 T chopped fresh rosemary
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1.5 t low sodium tamari
2 C chopped kale (or any other hearty green)
½ t crushed red pepper flakes
½ t grated nutmeg
1 T nutritional yeast
Walnut Rosemary Pesto Massaged Kale
I came up with this pesto recipe as a way to use up a whole rosemary plant I bought at the grocery store. The walnuts and rosemary can readily be swapped out for any of your favorite nuts and herbs — cashew mint, peanut Thai basil, pecan sage — and lime can be used in place of lemon, if the flavor pairs well with your variation.
For the pesto:
1 C (115 g) walnuts
1 C (60 g) packed roughly chopped kale
1 C (20 g) de-stemmed fresh rosemary
¼ C (65 g) extra-virgin olive oil (can use more for a thinner consistency)
½ t salt*
1.25 t freshly cracked black pepper
¼ C (20 g) nutritional yeast
1 lemon, zested and juiced (~ ¼ C juice)
¼ C (30 g) mozzarella*
¼ C (40 g) feta*
For the kale:
3 bunches dinosaur / flat leaf / lacinato kale, washed and cut into ½” ribbons
1 lemon
1 T extra-virgin olive oil (optional)
1 t salt (optional)
* Can use all mozzarella or all feta. If using all feta, do not use any salt. If using all mozzarella, increase salt to 1 tsp.
Balsamic Charred Carrots and Asparagus + Pan-Seared Sausage
This component of the bowls is much more about the preparation technique than the ingredients themselves. I prefer to cook these items fresh right before serving to preserve the crispiness of the charred exterior bits, but you can elect to batch-cook them ahead of time for the most time-efficient meal prep option.
Small carrots, de-stemmed, peeled, and bisected (can substitute pre-roasted sweet potatoes, pre-cooked beets, or any other sweet veggie that can cook through in a few minutes of pan-searing)
Asparagus, tough ends trimmed off (can substitute broccolini, halved brussels sprouts, or any other cruciferous vegetable)
Italian sausage, bisected (I use the Field Roast brand and also love their apple sage product in this variation. You could try out marinated tempeh strips or smoked tofu for a gluten-free version.)
Balsamic vinegar
Freshly cracked pepper
Serving
I like to toss a handful of orange segments or pomegranate seeds on top of these bowls for a fresh sweet contrast. Some fresh chopped herbs, extra dollops of pesto, roasted nuts or seeds, or sprinkling of cheese would also be an aesthetic addition just before serving.
