veggies

[fish]

About the renewed interest in veggies...

We've got a lot of veggie and even vegan cookbooks, and I think that Jeanne Lemlin's books are the best.

Quick Vegetarian Pleasures is the best veggie cookbook we own.

The meals are substantial. they are in fact very quick to prep, and even kids will love them.

www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060969113/qid=1138839431/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-9878592-9868606?n=507846&s=books&v=glance


fish

[jack]

Fish, the real test is................would Jack eat it . While I do watch my diet in terms of unhealthy fats. I've never been a fan of cooked vegetables......raw is fine but cooked is another story. I'd like to be able to incorporate more veggies in my diet........so if you've got any suggestions I'm all ears.

[Smoke]

Hey Jack, try baking or grilling your veggies..In my opinion ther is nothing worse one could do to any veggie than BOIL it in water. Grilled you can control how well done you like them, I like asparugus and brocolli on the crunchy side...just add your favorite seasoning.

[fish]

Jack,

Bear with me here. You'll be happy if you do. I promise.

If you do not own one, purchase a food processor this evening, or if the stores are closed, get one tomorrow. Slice and dice is tedious even if you are a knife skills nut. Like me.

(strop up the K-Bar and let's fondue that moose !)

Also get a microwave rice cooker. Wicked useful thing.

Raw is just about best in terms of nutrition. And I think that veggies taste best that way. Of course, one has to pay attention to the subtleties of taste. Chacon a son gout.

Eating raw veggies all the time may lead to personality disorders. I mean to say you could become a militant Vegan with a K-Bar. So cooking the veggies up is good too.

The food processor is key. Slicing carrots can be dulling work. But with the handy dandy wiz banger you quickly have quick cooking bite sizes.

As an aside, I have read that the reason that the Chinese cut their food before cooking is to preserve precious cooking fuel. Perhaps coincidentally, cooking veggies in small pieces gives great results.

That said, the two fastest and best ways I know to cook a variety of veggies are:

1. stir fry in flavored oil.

2. blanch or parboil in flavored water.

Let's start with 2.

2. Take enough low sodium stock to cover easily whatever it is you are going to cook and heat it to a simmer. Throw the veggies into the stock in longest first order of length of time it takes them to cook so they all arrive at table just right. SIMMER - NEVER BOIL. Simmer cooks, boil ruins. There is a huge difference in result. Use lots of fluid relative to veggies. Let the stock come back to simmer before throwing the next veggie in. When the last veggie is in and the stock comes back to simmer, dish it out as soup or strain it out as a cooked veggie, and

Eat.

Most people cook too long. Try to imagine that you are just killing the germs on the surface of the veggie. Just long enough to get the core of the piece nice and warm. Dunk, do not drown. Let your early efforts be undercooked and crisp rather than overcooked and mush.

Once you get the timing down, experiment with seasonings in the stock. Seasonings go in first.

Don't worry about your seasonings. Carrots are great cooked with orange juice. Once you get "just plain" down, start throwing things like a bay leaf into the cooking water. Eventually you will get to the point that you actually open all of those jars you've never used before on that spinning spice holder-rack. Not too much to lose, if it tastes bad, put it in the compost.

Advancing to 1.

Get a wok. It is not as important as a food processor, so you don't need a wok if you don't have one, but they do make it easy. The hot heat is at the bottom, so as you toss the stuff to the sides, everything feeds down to the bottom, and everything gets cooked with less chance of burning.

Step one, slice and dice the raw stuff. (aka "mise en place" which is Julia Child for have everything ready before you go to the fire because it all happens fast.)

Then take a little oil. Not too much, just enough to coat the pan with a very little extra. The oil is to thin coat the veggies at most. Use less, not more.

Heat the oil to just smoking. This because every oil has a different burn temperature. But every oil has a different taste, so you want to try them all.

Anyhow the oil is smoking.

Throw the flavorers in. Ginger andor Garlic andor Scallions andor whatever.

As soon as the flavorers have done their thing to give flavor to the oil, scoop them out or they will burn. Then throw the slowest cooking veggie pieces in.

Keep the stuff moving in the wok.

Time it so that everything will wind up cooked when the quickest veggie is done.

If you have to add oil during cooking because the food is sticking, pour a very little more around the top edge of the wok. That way it does not cool the heating areas and interfere with the cooking process, but will still coat the cooking and food surfaces as it feeds down the sides of the pan.

Do not over fill the wok. If you have missed your timing you'll need room to move done stuff to the high sides where it is cool while the stuff that needs to catch up is on the bottom where it is hot. Then at the magic moment, mix it all up, take it off the stove, and

eat.

THESE TECHNIQUES ARE VERY FAST. IT SHOULD NOT TAKE AN HOUR FROM OPENING THE FRIDGE TO CLOSING THE DISHWASHER.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that if all else fails,

Beer is a vegetable, ready to eat.

fish