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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