Winter Vegetable Mushroom Ragout on Polenta

Tonight's dinner was a Winter Vegetable Ragout from Everyday Greens by Annie Somerville. This was a very involved recipe and I made parts of it in advance. Even so, it still took me over an hour and a half to make dinner. I started by making a shitake mushroom vegetable stock and a roasted garlic puree in advance. The mushroom stock was then mixed with the garlic puree, sherry, soy sauce, and porcini mushroom liquid (after soaking). After that I made a roux with earth balance and flour and added the stock mixture. At the same time veggies roasted in the oven. 2 large portobellos were brushed with garlic oil, salt and pepper and roasted. Then butternut squash, rutabegas, fennel, potatoes, and onions roasted in the oven with garlic oil, salt and pepper. The vegetables were mixed with the mushroom sherry sauce and cooked. Then some swiss chard was added, and then the portobellos and some fresh herbs went in. I made some polenta while this was simmering and served the stew over the polenta.

Swiss Chard is fun to take pictures of:



Is this the most beautiful swiss chard you've ever seen?