Vegetables

Steamed Vegetables

One of the easiest ways to serve vegetables is just wash them off, trim the ends and steam them.

Put about an inch of water or less into a pot and a sprinkle of salt and then toss in one of those accordion vegetable steamers.
Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium.
Top with your choice of vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, carrots and string beans all work well).
Cover the pan and steam for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are brightly colored and have lost most of their crunch.
Eat as is, or serve with butter or olive oil, salt, pepper and a squirt of lemon.

*For a little more flavor try roasting in the oven, sautéing on the stove or even grilling on the barbecue.

Roasted Asparagus

(Serves 2-to-4)

1 bunch asparagus

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Rinse asparagus spears and trim off bottoms by bending each spear until it snaps.
You can trim ends if they are unevenly broken (optional).
Lay spears in single file across a roasting pan and drizzle olive oil in a thin stream 2 or three times across the spears.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 10-to-20 minutes depending on their thickness.
Check them every five minutes and rearrange with a set of tongs or spatula to make sure they are cooked evenly. Asparagus should be golden brown and tender when pierced with a knife.
Leftover asparagus tastes great in an omelette, quiche or over a pizza.

Steamed and Sauteed Carrots

(Serves 2)

4-to-6 carrots rinsed or peeled and cut into small slices

½ cup orange juice

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoon maple syrup

In a sauté pan or skillet heat orange juice over medium high heat until it comes to a boil and then add carrots.
Cover and reduce heat to low for about 5-to-10 minutes or until carrots are soft.
Remove lid and turn heat up to medium to cook off juice.
When liquid is almost gone add butter to pan and coat carrots with butter.
Allow carrots to brown on both sides and then stir in syrup.
Coat browned carrots in syrup and serve.

Corn on the Cob

Always buy corn as fresh as you can and use as soon as possible. Corn loses its sweetness after a few days and becomes starchy.

The most common method of cooking corn is on the stove in a big pot of boiling water.

Clean off the outer husks and silk (looks like hair), rinse them off and toss into a boiling pot of water.
Cook for 5-to-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the corn and how many ears you are cooking.
Kernels will be tender.
Serve with melted butter and salt.

Grilled corn takes a few more minutes but is well worth it and you don’t have to heat up the kitchen cooking it on a hot summer day.

Pull back the husks and remove the silk (hairy strands)
Push husks back up and soak cobs in cold water for at least an hour.
When ready, cook on a hot grill for about 10-to-15 minutes until cooked through on all sides.
Corn should be golden brown but not dark brown.
Serve with melted butter and salt.

Sauteed String Beans

(Serves 2-to-4)

½ pound of string beans (as thin as you can find)

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4-to-5 cloves garlic sliced thin

Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse string beans and trim off stem-side ends.
Slice up garlic into thin slivers.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat.
Add olive oil to pan.
When oil is hot toss in garlic and swirl around for about a minute until garlic takes on a golden color.
Toss in beans and cook, stirring to coat with garlic and oil.
Cook for 10 minutes or more flipping every so often until the beans take on some color and are tender. A little charring is good.
Shut off heat and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Stir to distribute evenly and serve.

*For a little extra crunch top with slivered almonds.

You can also make this with fresh spinach. Substitute a 10 ounce bag of fresh spinach for the beans. It begins to wilt immediately and cooks in about 2 minutes.

Sauteed Mushrooms and Garlic

(Serves 2)

2 Tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic mashed with ¼ teaspoon salt

1 10-ounce package of sliced mushrooms (slice your own if they don’t come that way in your store)

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 Tablespoon fresh parsley chopped fine (optional)

Over medium heat, melt butter in a sauté pan until foamy.
Add garlic salt mixture and stir for about 30 seconds.
Toss in mushrooms and coat with butter and garlic.
Cook, stirring occasionally until all the liquid from the mushrooms is cooked off and they are browned on both sides.
Toss in pepper and stir.
Remove from heat and sprinkle with parsley before serving.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

This recipe requires very little work but a lot of time. You can pop a batch in the oven and come back hours later to check on them.

10-20 Italian Roma tomatoes (they are oval shaped) rinsed and dried

olive oil

salt and pepper (preferably kosher salt)

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet or sheet pan with parchment paper or brush a little oil onto it.
Slice tomatoes lengthwise down the center.
Lay each tomato cut side up on sheet pan.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Put in the oven and roast for 3-to-6 hours until they smell wonderful and are shriveled all over.
Patience is a virtue here because the longer you cook these the more concentrated the flavor will be.

Can be used as a side dish, in pasta (see below), over bruschetta (see party food) or store in a container and top with olive oil for later use.

*Pasta suggestion -- Place slow roasted tomatoes, a can of sliced artichokes and some sliced olives into a large pan and cook until heated through. Toss into a freshly drained pot of pasta and stir. Chop up a little feta cheese and sprinkle on top before serving. Parmesan will work if feta is not available.