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.