Improvising Vegetable Stews

You can make a vegetable stew with just about any vegetable, if you rely on common sense and intuition about what goes with what. You need to decide when to add the vegetable (on the basis of how long each one takes to cook), as well as what cooking liquid to use (water, wine, or broth); whether to finish the stew with cream, butter, or some kind of sauce; whether to steam the vegetables together in one big pot or to use different techniques (glazing, sautéing, roasting, grilling) to get the most flavor out of each vegetable; and what flavorings (herbs, spices, strips of prosciutto, cubes of bacon or foie gras), if any, to use. The vegetables listed below are grouped according to when they should be added to the pot.