My sweetie and I had what we thought would be a fun idea when we were ordering meats earlier this year. We should try all these random non-chicken birds available from our favorite sustainable meat supplier, we thought. How bad could they be, we thought.
Well, I am here to tell you that there’s a reason we as meat-eaters dine on chicken more often than wild game birds. There’s the buck shot for one, and the feathering, but mostly it’s the strong and not altogether pleasant taste.
We made it through the birds, but in the future, I’m probably not going to eat too much partridge, wood pigeon, or pheasant. Unless the apocalypse comes sooner than I hope.
But to go along with these fowl, I thought I’d make a nice vegetable gratin to go with our meat-heavy dinner.
While the preparation went more smoothly than for the birds, the end result was a similar level of meh. It was easy but at the cost of being pretty bland.
It was less offensive than the birds to my taste buds but it also made a lot more and we’re still slowly going through the leftovers. I much prefer the similar vegetable dish I made last year on a sheet pan — marinated artichokes add so much, I guess (probably mostly salt) — than this Dutch oven gratin.
If you’re looking for a plain dish, or have ideas of sprucing up my adaptation of a The Kitchn recipe, here’s what I did:
Ingredients
- 2 small fennel bulbs, sliced*
- 3 medium leeks, halved and thinly sliced
- ¾ to 1 lb. potatoes, sliced*
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced*
- 1 bunch of asparagus, cut into ½ inch pieces
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (I used the jar stuff, and didn’t measure)
- 1 ½ c. sour cream
- 1 ½ c. Parmesan
- ½ t. ground nutmeg
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- *Note: A mandoline is recommended for slicing these vegetables, so they can be evenly thin. I used ⅛ inch.
Directions
Heat an oven to 400 degrees.
Add all the sliced vegetables to a large Dutch oven. Add in the sour cream, Parmesan, nutmeg, and salt and pepper, and stir well to lightly coat the vegetables with the cream mixture.
Bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Carefully remove the lid/cover, and bake for another 15 minutes uncovered so the top can brown. Cool for about 10 minutes, and (try to) enjoy!
