Bake, grill, fry or steam? Some vegetable do's and dont's

Boiled, frozen, sloppy, slimy or dripping in fat? It's time to stop soiling our vegetables! Put your heart into it, or at least your attention. Here's a quick quide of easiest ways how to properly treat your vegetables.

First some quick and general tips:

1)Make'em feel special: make vegetables the star and center or your meal!

2) NEVER BOIL vegetables. Ever. You spoil the color and texture, as well as remove a large part of their nutrients.

3) Prepare each type of vegetable separately. If you are making a dish with a mix of vegetables, then prepare each vegetable rhe right way first, THEN mix them together. Getting the right texture is all about timing! Check frequently, and taste to see if they are not too hard and not too soft.

4) Baking brings out the most flavour, steaming is the fastest (except for boiling which I banned in point 1) while frying and grilling gives the nicest and crispiest surface.

Fried vegetables:

The softer and smaller the vegetable, the shorter time it takes to prepare them and the higher the temperature you can use.

Mushrooms for example are best fried. NEVER wash mushrooms in water, just clean them with a clean, dry towel. Chop them into slices as thick as a cigarette. Set your teflon pan to a real high temperature and start frying. Wait untill you see the water coming out of the musrooms, once they are done "sweating" you can add a tiny, tiny bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper. After this point you leave them frying for two minutes more, till they golden on the outside and soft, but not too soft, on the inside. Don't leave the room!

Squash is nice fried as well, but take longer time than mushrooms so you need to lower the temperature. Dont put oil either, just fry at low temperature untill they soften (also in the middle; taste to check!) then you can add a tiny bit of oil and turn the heat on to make the surface more golden.

Bake it!

Baking brings out flavour like no other method and is the best way to prepare harder vegetables which need a lot of time to soften, such as beets, brussel sprouts, potatoes, and carrots for example, and also fazole.

Just chop, put them in a bowl, tiny bit of oil, salt and maybe some spices, set your oven to 180 degrees, and then all you have to do is wait for about half an hour. Check up on them regularly, stir them a little bit during half the baking time. Take care of them!

As on the photo, the best way to make fazole is baking. Chop off the unedible edges, and of course add a little but of oil, salt and a lot of sesame seeeds. Lovely!

Stuff you can steam:

Broccoli is best steamed I find. It is very quick, so you need to check them frequently. A minute too long is....too long. I'd say it takes about five minutes, but check.

You can also steam carrots, potatoes, corn and any other hard type of vegetable.

To prepare colliflower you can steam it till its completely soft, then put it into a frying pan with some spring onions, an egg or two, some garlic powder, pepper, salt. Mash it together and it tastes lovely.

Thats it for now, more to follow!