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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