We started with a trio of braised vegetables, all at a suitably austere £3.50, and liked two of them.

If the temperature dips to a chilling 70 degrees or lower you might opt for the hefty osso buco over saffron rice with braised vegetables.

Though tasso may be eaten on its own, it is more often used as part of a flavor base for stews or braised vegetables.

Lasagna, polenta with braised vegetables, escarole-anchovy salad, brussels sprouts with prosciutto and garlic, and butternut-squash risotto are among the Tuscan--inspired offerings.

Try the Vietnamese shrimp ($14), followed by the grilled curried chicken with cilantro rice and braised vegetables ($17).

Although pricey at $11, Malabar navaratan ("nine gems"), a dish of braised vegetables, fruits and nuts, had too few vegetables in its rich buttermilk sauce.

The Napoleon features crackling flaky pastry filled with braised vegetables, all atop a Parmesan-kissed cream sauce.

Other choices include cacciucco, or Tuscan fish soup with lobster, prawns, calamari, monkfish, clams and mussels in an intense seafood broth, and the excellent herb-roasted chicken with braised vegetables and Swiss chard.

So instead I make a supper I call fish in a pot, which is really just fish over a bed of braised vegetables.

This contemporary Italian restaurant opened last year and immediately won over fans with dishes like baked Roman artichoke with white wine, mint and chili, and gnocchi with veal cheeks with braised vegetables.