Eat your
Veggies! Simple Cooking Methods
Vegetables add colour, taste, texture
and bulk to our daily diet. There are dozens of
different vegetables that can be prepared in literally
hundreds of ways. So what's best?
There is no best. The thing to do is to
eat your vegetables, lots of them, everyday in a wide
variety of ways and stop worrying about the preparation
methods. Variety is the key...
Raw
Many vegetables taste fabulous just the
way they are straight out of the garden. Lettuce,
tomato, celery, cabbage, onion, radish, carrot are
obvious choices here. But they are just as likely to
find themselves next to chopped up broccoli,
cauliflower, peas, beans and zucchini on a starter
platter with dips. Wash 'em, chop 'em and eat 'em. Oh,
yeah, you could also make a salad!
Steamed
Steaming heats the vegetable and softens
it's texture. It's gentler than boiling and allows the
vegetable to maintain it's colour if not overdone. Use a
stainless steel steamer that will fit into most good
size sauce pans. Make sure you use a pan with a tight
fitting lid. There should be enough water to just touch
the bottom of the steamer. Water should be simmering the
whole time the vegetables are being cooked.
Boiling
Boiling vegetables is really going out
of fashion, but it's a legitimate preparation method!
The big concern is loss of nutrients. All cooking
methods result in the loss of some goodness from the
vegetables. If boiling, try to find a way to use the
water the vegetables have been boiled in (i.e. to make a
gravy or sauce) to bring those nutrients back to the
table. Vegetables should be barely covered with water.
Bring the water to a boil (covered) then slow to a
simmer until vegetables are tender.
Microwave
Very popular for vegetables as it
retains colour, flavour and nutrients. Trial and error
will be your guide with microwaving as there are plenty
of variables involved. However, a few guidelines will
help...The more food you put into the oven, the longer
it will take to cook. Underestimate your cooking time
rather than overestimate. Undercooked food can be cooked
some more. Over-cooked food is ruined. Food straight
from the fridge will take longer to cook than that at
room temperature. All food continues to cook after it
has been removed from the microwave oven. It is part of
the cooking process and should be taken into account to
prevent over-cooking.
Stir Fry
Very rapid method of quick frying
vegetables, meat (optional) and sauces in one pan to
make a meal. Primarily associated with Asian cooking.
The key to doing this well is preparation. All items to
be cooked should be chopped to a size that will allow
them to cook quickly in the wok. It is also important
that the wok is heated to a high, consistent temperature
throughout. Vegetables maintain their colour and
crispness with this sort of cooking (if not overdone).
Baking
Brilliant! Especially for those 'root'
vegetables like potatoes, turnip, carrot and beetroot.
Chop into similar size pieces, brush lightly with olive
oil and put in a hot oven to roast. Size of the pieces
will determine the cooking time but expect at least 40
minutes. Outside is chewy, inside is moist and fluffy.
Dress with sour cream and chives. Yum!
Barbeque
Does anything scream summer like the
word barbeque? Love a barbeque. This is primarily open
flame cooking, so could apply to a campfire as well.
Cooking outside just changes everything about food.
You'll need foil, fire and fresh veggies. Grease your
foil, chop your veggies and put the closed packages on
the grill. Be adventurous, it's really hard to mess this
up!
Judy Williams (http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com)
splits her time between being a media executive and an
earth mother goddess. No Dig Vegetable Gardens
represents a clean, green way to grow your own food. The
site covers all aspects of growing, cooking and
preserving your harvest.
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