Vegetable Basics

Years ago I was visiting a friend, another recent graduate, and we decided to cook dinner together. “My mother gave me carrots” he offered, yanking the bag out of the refrigerator to show me. “Do you know how to cook them?”

 

“Sure” I responded. “We’ll peel them, then cut them and put them in a pot with some water and cook them a few minutes.”

 

“Wow, that’s just like frozen carrots”.

 

. . . . . . . .

 

In some ways vegetables are very simple and there is probably a limit to what you can do with them: grill, roast, steam, sauté, stir fry. Things get a lot more interesting when you start to combine them and add other ingredients, or even combine cooking methods.

 

To get you started you’ll find below a description of various basic cooking methods along with some suggested vegetables to which you can apply them. On separate pages you’ll find additional detailed recipes for vegetable dishes that go beyond the basics, but can inspire your repertoire of vegetable cookery.

 

Buying vegetables: Choose them by their looks – it’s that simple. Don’t buy vegetables that are bruised, broken, brown or the wrong color. If they don’t look appetizing, change your menu and find something else that does look good enough to eat.

 

Step one for all vegetables: wash them! You can cook them, eat them raw, peel them or not, but make sure you wash them.

 

Many vegetables need trimming. Lop off the ends of stems or where roots and greens connect. Trim carrots, green beans, the stems of peppers or the base of a cauliflower. Remove the husk of corn on the cob. I think you’ll get the picture.

 

Not cooking: Lots of vegetables are good eaten raw: carrots, celery, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, jicama to name a few. Also check out the section on SALADS.

 

Steaming: Most vegetables can be cooked with water, and to make a distinction, you are better off steaming them above boiling water rather than cooking them in the boiling water so their nutrients aren’t flushed out.

 

Cut the washed vegetables into bite sized pieces. Insert a steaming rack in a saucepan with a tightly fitting cover. Add water just up to the bottom of the steaming rack, load it up with vegetables, cover, and set on high heat. Check a few minutes after the water comes to a boil. Use a knife to pierce a piece and if it goes in easily it is done. I prefer to grab a piece with some tongs, run cold water on it to cool it, and do a taste test. When you check food that is steaming to see if it is done, replace the cover quickly to minimize the steam that is lost, in the event you need to continue with cooking.

 

Steam asparagus, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, spinach, green beans and peas for about 3 to 5 minutes. Corn on the cob, beets, Brussels sprouts and potatoes will take 10 to 15 minutes.

 

Some options are to serve steamed vegetables plain, or with a bit of butter or olive oil. Add lemon juice, with or without the butter or oil. Sprinkle with a few crushed red pepper flakes. Salt and pepper are your call.

 

Sautéing: (With apologies – sauté is a past participle in French and adding –ing for convenience to anglicize it probably breaks some international laws.) To sauté is to cook on a stovetop in a pan with a little oil, butter or other fat.

 

You can sauté most vegetables, but for those that require longer cooking you may want to steam them first to get them mostly softened, and then finish the cooking by sauté. Another tactic would be to cut them into very small pieces and sauté them. For example, you can shred Brussels sprouts, sauté them, and they will be done in just a few minutes. Also sauté sliced summer squash, mushrooms, greens such as kale and Swiss chard.  

 

Stir frying: Stir frying is a technique used in Asian cooking, where the ingredients are cooked quickly in oil at a high heat. A special pan called a wok is used, and its domed shape allows the ingredients, which are continuously tossed, to make maximum contact with the sides where additional heat transfer takes place. Stir frying is a good way to cook vegetables cut into small pieces, and you if you don’t own a wok you can use your frying pan.

 

Here is a sample exercise: add 2 to 3 tablespoons of cooking oil such as canola to your frying pan or wok, fire it up to high heat, and let a chopped garlic clove sizzle for 30 seconds before you add broccoli florets, chopped onions and red peppers. Carefully toss it all around for a few minutes while it cooks. Add a splash of soy sauce.

 

Roasting: Roasting vegetables is a good way to encourage the caramelizing of their natural sugars, bringing depth to their flavor. You’ll find a separate recipe for Roast Potatoes, and that may bring to mind other root vegetables, such as carrots, beets, onions, parsnips, rutabaga and sweet potatoes, which can be prepared in a similar fashion. But don’t forget about other possibilities: tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, green beans, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, eggplant and squash. Preheat the oven to 400° F., wash and cut larger vegetables into chunks, douse with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and toss to coat evenly. Spread out the pieces in a baking pan in one layer and put in the oven. Check every 10 minutes and when they appear to be half done, turn the pieces over to finish cooking.

 

Grilling: We don’t usually think about grilling vegetables, but it also brings out rich flavors in red peppers, onions, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, and asparagus by caramelizing the natural sugars.

 

Cut larger vegetables in half or slice, leave smaller ones whole, and brush with a little olive oil. If you are using an outdoor grill you’ll want to consider an accessory like a grill basket so small pieces won’t fall into the fire. For indoor cooking, use a two-piece broiling pan, setting the vegetables on top of the rack that fits over the pan and setting it under the broiler. When grilling or broiling you need to keep a close watch on things. Cook one side, then turn and cook the other.