Vegetables: How do you make them exciting?

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  • khronicuk
    khronicuk Posts: 14 Member
    Fantastic ideas guys!
    Anyone drop anything in the water while steaming? Or season while steaming?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    khronicuk wrote: »
    Fantastic ideas guys!
    Anyone drop anything in the water while steaming? Or season while steaming?

    Most common seasonings don't volatilize (go into the steam) all that well. If I want steamed veggies with seasonings, I usually do one of two things;

    (1.) Stir-steam the veggies in a small amount of seasoned broth or other seasoned liquid - like stir-frying, but in liquid. As you proceed, you don't let the water/broth disappear (things will stick), but it does reduce, and the flavor does penetrate the veggies. When the veggies are at your desired degree of tender/crisp, if the amount of remaining broth is tiny, just serve with the veg. If it's substantial, you can either reduce it down & pour over the veg, or discard it, or save it for soup base. One caution: Since you're reducing, a salty liquid will become a very, very salty liquid. I prefer to use an unsalted liquid, and salt after or very near the end of cooking.

    (2) Make an infused vinegar using the desired seasonings, and dress the steamed veggies with it. If you're making the vinegar on the spur of the moment, heating it gently with the seasoning in it will help the flavor intensity, as will pulverizing dry seasonings or mincing wet ones very finely. If you heat it in the microwave, don't let it boil - it boils away fast in small quantities, and the steam is choking ;) . (I love vinegar, but if you don't enjoy it, this is a bad alternative. I guess you could dress with a reduced, seasoned broth or even seasoned water.)
  • SaucySweetPea90
    SaucySweetPea90 Posts: 1 Member
    I can get really bored of just eating vegetables. So I "hide" them. Chop them up and add them to a home made sauce, soup, stew, etc and most of the time you won't realize they are there.

    Or subbing out some high fat or carb items for veggie options works too. Shredded carrots for pasta noodles, cauliflower for mashed potatoes (or do a half cauliflower and half potato mix....it's a texture thing for me) and diced mushrooms or tofu in olace ground meat in a pasta sauce are just few of my favorite go to items when I'm not feeling plain old veggies.
  • MADgical72
    MADgical72 Posts: 81 Member
    Toss with olive oil, garlic, s & p and roast at 400 for 20 mins. I do this for broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, broccolini.

    For root veggies, such as carrots, parsnips, & sweet potatoes, I toss with olive oil, s & p, garlic powder and rosemary and roast at 400 for 20 - 30, depending on the size you cut them into.

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