When I was a kid, vegetables came two ways – frozen and canned. I guess we ate fresh too but I was such a picky eater that I wouldn’t try the vegetables no matter where they came from. Now, there are so many tasty vegetables available from different sources. From Seafood City (Filipino) to Valley Produce (Middle Eastern) to 99 Ranch Market (Chinese) to Galleria (Korean) and finally to Vallarta (Mexican), one doesn’t have to travel the ends of the earth to try new and exotic vegetables or even to get the finest of locally grown right here in Southern California via the Farmers Market and local grocers.
The way that vegetables are packaged has changed as much as the way we cook vegetables. In the 60’s and 70’s, we boiled vegetables. This produced mushy, muddy colored vegetables which had been cooked so much that any nutritional value had been boiled right out of it. Then came microwave ovens. Those suckers zapped the nutrition out of veggies. Microwaves can be used effectively to cook veggies but you really have to be gentle and not over cook them.
Now, even canned and frozen vegetables are high quality and sometimes, as in the case of spinach, you get a better, easier to use product than fresh. For most frozen produce, manufacturers flash freeze the product at the height of ripeness, giving the consumer a perfectly ripe and as close to fresh taste as you can get besides actually eating the produce fresh.
My cooking method of choice for most vegetables is roasting. So simple and hard to mess up. First you must wash the produce and cut them into bite sized pieces. I then drizzle olive oil and sprinkle kosher salt over the veggies and roast in a hot oven until it is golden brown and caramelized. You can roast using this method for asparagus carrots, onions, garlic, leeks, mushrooms, cauliflower, beets, zucchini, squash, potatoes, peppers, rutabaga, turnips, green beans and parsnips. About the only vegetable that I don’t roast is broccoli because it dries out the delicate florets.
When I’m making mexican food, I sprinkle coriander (dried cilantro), oregano and cumin over the veggies. If making Italian food, I might add herbs de provence, sage, parsley, thyme or garlic salt. If preparing sweet potatoes, I sometimes add pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger or allspice as well.
The beautiful thing about roasting vegetables is that it helps the moisture to evaporate and intensifies the taste. Roasting helps the sugar in the veggies (and most veggies do have some sugar) caramelize adding to the flavor as well.
Do try roasting your veggies next time. And when you are done with your meal, the leftovers are great in an omelette or fritatta the next day.
