Warm Weather Vegetable Pot-au-feu

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, split, germ removed, and thinly sliced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced (preferably a spring or texas onion)
• 1 leek, and light green parts only, quartered lengthwise and rinsed
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 6 small new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 4 slender carrots, trimmed, peeled, and cut on the diagonal into 1/2-inch thick slices
• 3 cups vegetable broth or 3 cups chicken broth
• lemon zest (1 strip) or orange zest (1 strip)
• 1 piece lemongrass, split lengthwise (2-inch long piece)
• 8 asparagus spears, trimmed and peeled
• 4 large shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, cleaned, and sliced
• 1/2 lb spinach, stemmed and washed
• 4 large eggs (poached or boiled)
• chopped fresh herb

Recipe

• 1 in a large high-sided skillet or, if you've got one, a woklike stir-fry pan, warm the olive oil over med-low heat.
• 2 toss in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
• 3 add in the onion and leek, turning them in the oil, and season with salt and pepper.
• 4 cook, stirring gently, just until the onion and leek soften slightly, about 5 minutes.
• 5 stir in the potatoes and carrots, then pour in the broth.
• 6 toss in zest and lemongrass.
• 7 increase heat and bring the broth to a boil, then lower heat and simmer gently, uncovered, until the vegetables are just short of tender, about 10 minutes.
• 8 *you can make the pot-au-feu to this point up to 3 hours in advance; cover and refrigerate; when ready to continue, bring the broth back to a boil, lower the heat so that it simmers, and cook gently until everything is heated through.
• 9 while the vegetables are simmering, bring a skillet of water to a boil--you'll use the pan to reheat the eggs right before serving.
• 10 with the pot-au-feu at a gentle simmer, drop in the asparagus and shiitakes; cook until tender, about 4 minutes.
• 11 scatter the spinach over the vegetables and cook another 2 minutes, just until slightly wilted.
• 12 taste for salt and pepper; adjust.
• 13 slip the eggs into the skillet of simmering water and give them just a couple of minutes to warm while you spoon out the pot-au-feu.
• 14 ladle the vegetables and broth into shallow soup plates, scatter with chopped fresh herbs, and finish each with a poached or boiled egg; serve immediately.