This became a favorite stew this year. I made it several times over the fall and winter, brought it to potlucks, and served it for extended family over the holidays. I’m finally posting it to share. This eggplant and fennel stew braised in red wine a richly flavored stew that perfumes the kitchen. In contrast to the eggplant stew I posted last fall, in which you briefly sauté all of the ingredients together on the stove, and then roast the whole stew in the oven for 2 hours, this stew has the opposite procedure. You cook the vegetables separately and uniquely, then bring them together in a boozy red wine and herb stew.
The procedure for roasting the fennel was new to me. You braise quarters of fennel on the stove with olive oil and broth for 5 minutes, then put the pan in the oven to roast for an hour, covered in parchment paper. This does something magical to the fennel, and is more interesting than simply roasting slices of fennel in olive oil and salt (which was my previous method for roasting fennel). Now I want to use this braising/roasting method on fennel at other times as a side dish, or a base for other stews as well. And wouldn’t it be nice on a salad?
This recipe is inspired by Denis Cotter’s fantastic cookbook Cafe Paradiso Seasons. I think that Julie/Julia gal is pretty OCD, but if I would ever decide to cook my way through a cookbook, it might just be this one. My two adaptations are that I’ve cut the eggplants into slightly smaller pieces, and have also salted and rested the cut eggplant cubes before cooking them. This step draws out liquid from the spongy eggplant cubes, and removes possible bitterness. Since you have the fennel roasting for an hour, I think you might as well have the eggplant draining during this time.
You can serve this stew with any kind of starchy side. Today I’m pairing it with thick slices of pan-seared polenta, but it’s also good with rice, couscous, or crusty bread. Alternatively, it’s a great stew for composing a vegetarian version of shepherd’s pie (to do so, arrange the stew in the bottom of a casserole pan, top it with mashed potatoes, and then bake until the mashed potatoes are golden). Since a shepherd’s pie is topped with mashed potatoes, I replace the potatoes in the stew with green beans.
A fruity red wine is preferred. The author Denis Cotter says the first time he made this stew, he drank the rest of the bottle while the stew simmered, “but that’s not always necessary.”
I used chilies and thyme from the garden. If you’re afraid of the heat, leave the chilies out.
Ingredients
- 3 fat fennel bulbs
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 18 ounces vegetable stock (separated as 1 cup and 1 1/4 cup)
- 2 large eggplants
- 18 ounces potatoes
- 28 ounce can whole plum tomatoes
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2-4 fresh chilies
- 2-3 sprigs thyme
- 10 ounces (1 1/4 cup) red wine
- salt to taste
