How to Do Things

Vegetables are very versatile food items. Most vegetables can be consumed raw (eg: salads or crudites served with dips). Also, almost every method of cooking can be applied to vegetables and it would be hard to go wrong. Before cooking always remember to thoroughly wash the vegetables to remove any bits of dirt or pesticides sprayed (unless they are organic). Peeling the vegetables is probably the easiest way to get rid of germs and dirt on their surface. Peeling too thickly is a bad idea since a lot of nutrients are found just below the skin and thick peeling can take them off. It is not required to peel the vegetables at all if they are organic vegetables. It is always a better idea to choose organic vegetables as pesticides can seep inside the vegetables even if they were thoroughly cleaned and peeled.

Boiling and Steaming:

• Boil water and then steam vegetables over them (or use some other cooking liquid such as wine), It is a tasty and healthy way of cooking them since the loss of vitamins and proteins is reduced significantly. Steaming vegetables also retains their flavor and texture. You can add some seasoning or flavor to the liquid to imbue the vegetables with unique flavors. Almost all the vegetables can be boiled using water or any other cooking fluid. But some vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers or aubergines are much tastier when they are grilled, roasted or fried.
• Green vegetables must be cooked in already boiling salted water and should be left on without a lid. To cook most root vegetables such as carrots and potatoes, start off in cold water and boil it with its lid on. Leafy veggies should also be cooked in boiling water with the lid off.
• The amount of time you cook the vegetables depends on how much you like them cooked. Always remember that the longer your vegetables cook the more nutrients they lose. To check if a vegetable is done cooking poke it with a knife or a fork.

Other methods:

• Vegetables such as greens, beans, onions, mushrooms (or ’soft’ vegetables) are extremely delicious when fried in oil or butter. This makes them crunchy with a lot of flavor.
• Baking vegetables in an oven will permit you to cook vegetables for a long time at low temperatures. This is a good idea when you want to concentrate the sugars in the vegetables such as beetroot, onions or squashes. All summer vegetables and root vegetables are good to roast. Just cut them up into little chunks and toss them around along with herbs in some olive oil in a large wok.
• Grilling vegetables makes them extremely tasty. Just add a bit of oil, seasoning, peppers, courgettes and aubergines etc. Grilling veggies makes sure they retain their flavor and they tend to be less oily and thus, healthier.
• A lot of vegetables are perfect to use for stuffing. Tomatoes, jacket potatoes, aubergines etc can be stuffed with grains, rice, cheese, herbs, mushrooms etc. The combinations are endless; all you need is just a little patience.
• Vegetables have a natural sweetness which also makes them useful in desserts such as pumpkin pie and carrot cake

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