Autumn is in the air. The farmers’ market will be closing soon, garden tomatoes are on the wane, and the last of the summer squash from my neighbor’s garden is just about gone.

In other words, it will be months before tender, new spring vegetables start showing up. I don’t mean to sound gloomy, but winter can be a challenge for any vegetable lover, and it always has me racking my brain for easy, delicious ways to cook mine. So, instead of a cooking method that emphasizes immediacy and freshness, I use one that’s all about concentrated flavor and silky texture: I make vegetable compotes.

传统的水果技术也非常适合蔬菜

You’re probably used to thinking of a compote as a fruit dish, often stewed. That’s traditionally how the term compote is used, and it’s how I got my inspiration for these tender, jammy side dishes. The French verbcompôtermeans to cook gently—to stew, really—until ingredients start to collapse and become almost purée-like. The process is simple: thinly slice the vegetables, start the cooking with olive oil (or another fat, like bacon drippings), add stock and other seasonings, and simmer over medium heat, usually covered, until the vegetables are tender.

Gentle cooking lets flavors meld and mellow

I find that people who say they don’t like vegetables (like my dad) love these compotes. He says it’s because the gentle cooking softens flavors and lets them meld into something different than, say, steamed vegetables.

A compote is different from a braise.Even though I’m cooking the vegetables slowly and gently in just a bit of stock—which sounds like a braise, I admit—it’s the finished result that qualifies these side dishes as compotes: vegetables gently cooked until they’re fall-apart tender, almost jam-like, and a pan that’s just about dry.

For tender results, slice the vegetables thinly。卷心菜，洋葱和茴香切片不会超过1/8英寸；您将茄子切成薄片。如果切片太厚且粗大，蔬菜将无法达到正确的温柔程度。如果切片太薄，它们会太快分解，从而导致糊状。

Go for a minimum of browning.虽然炒，西尔斯和布拉斯从最初的褐色中获得味道，但在这种情况下，如果蔬菜尽可能少褐色，这些综合剂最好。这样，他们会变成融化的味道，它们的醇厚味道会闪耀。股票增加了微妙的风味，您会注意到卷心菜苹果蛋糕从培根获得了一种风味，这是对我家乡图卢兹（Toulouse）的烹饪，他的家乡的食物和葡萄酒是我的最爱。