How to saute with less oil

We sauté in a little olive oil with salt and pepper at high heat. This blackens the vegetables a little bit, usually broccoli brussels sprouts, green beans or asparagus. At the end we add about a tablespoon of water and steam the vegetables. They’re delicious this way

Non stick pan, teaspoon of olive oil is good for you anyway, then a little water if it starts to stick. You can buy spritzers to refill yourself and that will reduce the chance of pouring too much.

Steamer basket. Set it in a saucepan with a little water underneath.

Or...use less oil. In a non-stick saute pan, you don't need more than a half teaspoon or so.

Start by stir frying with a little oil in a non stick pan, then once the outside of the veggies is browned and crisp the way you want, add a little vegetable stock and cook until they are soft.

Jessie24330 wrote: »

I want to make a few things with week with sauteed veggies (peppers, onions and mushrooms). I want them cooked until pretty soft. Any advise for doing this with as little oil as possible? My veggies seem to drink the oil when I do. TIA.

Onions and mushrooms act totally different. The onions will give up quite a bit of water quickly. Especially if you add a little salt. Mushrooms will soak up all the water and oil in the pan. Peppers will take longer to soften. If you're sauteing them all together I would cook the onions and peppers in a little oil over med heat, the point is you don't want them to brown at this point. Get them hot enough for the onions to start to give up their moisture then put the lid on for a few minutes. Now they aren't sauteing because the onion water in the pan is keeping the temp down. They will steam which should soften the peppers. 5 minutes, give or take, and the onion should be translucent and the peppers soft enough. Then add more oil and the mushrooms, turn up the heat to med. or med. high and saute uncovered until they're done. Recommended not to wash the shrooms in water. If you do, they will give up a lot of extra water during cooking, cooling off your pan slowing everything down.

If you do all the above in a stainless steel or enamel pan there will be brown stuff stuck to it. High price cooks call the stuff fond and it has lots of flavor. After emptying the pan with the heat still on add a little wine, beer, or stock and stir to dissolve the brown bits; keep stirring on heat a minute or so to evaporate (reduce) some of the liquid you added, then pour it over something.

So that's what I'd do.