Navets for Epiphany

When you're ending a meal with the galette des rois, you want to keep things simple. The foie gras and capon fest is over, and now it is time to remember the simple gifts that we find from our producers at the market this time of year. This recipe makes use of the turnip, a root vegetable that is prominently featured at the winter markets in Lyon. Just a simple simmer with some aromatics and cream, and we have a warming vegetable mix that makes a meal, and most of all, something that will make one indulgence into the galette raisonnable, quand meme.

4 carrots
4 turnips
1 small winter squash
2 onions
1 small sweet potato
4 parsnips
1 Tbsp. butter
one slice of ginger root
1/3 cup cream
2 Tbsp. sunflower or peanut oil
1 branch of fresh thyme
1 bunch of chervil
1 cup mixed poultry stock
2 to 3 very thin slices of smoked bacon, cooked crisp, for serving

Peel the vegetables and cut them into large chunks. Roughly chop the onion. Parboil the turnips for 5 minutes in boiling salted water and strain. In a heavy cocotte, heat the oil and butter. Crush the ginger with the back of a spoon and let it sizzle in the hot oils. Add the thyme and push it around a bit. Add the onions, lower the heat to medium, and push them briskly around the cocotte, until they begin to turn transparent. Add the carrots and parsnips, and the stock. Cover and let cook gently for 15 minutes. At the end of 15 minutes, add the turnips, squash, and sweet potato. Cover and simmer another 15 minutes. Toss the vegetables and add the cream, then let it reduce uncovered over medium heat for 5 minutes. Transfer the vegetables into a serving dish with a slotted spoon. Mix the minced chervil into the reduced cream mixture. Add salt and white pepper, and coat the vegetables with the sauce before bringing it to the table, to be served with crusty bread, graced with a crisped thin slice of smoked bacon or two.