Artichoke Panade

This is a dish that falls squarely into the category “Ugly but Tasty.” Oh you sneaky chefs, you know what I’m talking about: One of those dishes you love to make and eat in the privacy of your own home or to stash silently in an opaque Tupperware and nip out and wolf down at lunchtime. Dishes that smell delicious, but look… well, rather like an unattractive lumpy mess.

This Ugly but Tasty dish, Panade, is adapted from adaptations from other bloggers who seem equally smitten with this homely sloppy-spoon casserole. Orangette does a wonderful ode to bad bread made good and it’s quite the revered dish in What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway’s pantheon of amazing vegan dishes. At first sight I thought: stale bread, lots of onions, some greens, more time in the oven than I care to spend waiting in my apartment, so strange, so plebian, so ugly… it has to be good.

Serves: 6
Time: 40 minutes prep time plus 2 hours sitting silently in a low oven

Artichoke Panade (adapted from various sources*)

Kale: Wash the kale well and knife the curly leaves away from the kale stalks. Chop roughly. Add a little olive oil to a large wok/pot and heat the kale over medium-low, turning often, until wilted, about 20 minutes.

Onion and Artichokes: Add some olive oil to a skillet/wok and cook the onions over medium-low heat, turning often, until wilted.
Drain the cans of artichokes and squeeze each heart lightly over the sink to get rid of any excess liquid. Chop and add to the wilted onion to heat through.

Bread: Dice the bread into 1 inch cubes. Doing this the day before would make the bread staler and give the casserole even more texture.

Liquid: Heat the broth, milk, and/or white wine to equal 3 cups in a saucepan until almost boiling. Add a dash of salt, a splash of soy sauce, a generous few grinds of pepper, and the nutmeg.

Putting it all together: Layer a 9×13” sized casserole thusly: 1/3 of the bread cubes, ½ of the kale, ½ of the onions and artichokes, the second 1/3 of the bread, remaining ½ of the kale, remaining ½ of the onion and artichokes, remaining 1/3 of the bread cubes on top. Pour the hot liquid over carefully, trying to soak every bread cube. Sprinkle the cheese over.

Don’t take the layering so seriously, it’s supposed to be unattractive.
Here’s an alpha-illustration:

Cheese
Bread cubes
Onion and artichokes
Kale
Bread cubes
Onion and artichokes
Kale
Bread cubes
[liquid soak through all]

Top with a piece of foil and bake in a 250 degree oven for, yes, 2 hours.

*adaptation credits include Paula Wolfert and the Zuni Café viaWhat the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway, more Zuni Cafe via Orangette, and more Paula Wolfert via the Seattle Times

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Casseroles & Baked, Autumn, Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.