How to prepare vegetables like a chef

Do you ever wonder why a simple side dish like spinach, roasted carrots, or a side salad is so much more special in a restaurant than when you put in the effort at home? It doesn’t seem fair, does it? But it’s probably because most chefs put just as much effort into vegetables (hopefully) as they do into meat or fish, and also know a whole host of handy tips & tricks to really bring out the best in veggies. Here are a few of those tips!

Because you also want to serve restaurant-worthy vegetables at home, especially at a time when we should all be eating less meat. With these tips, you can give vegetables a starring role:

Make a recaudo first

Colleague Steffi previously wrote at length about the different cooking bases used in kitchens around the world, such as mirepoix in France and soffrito in Italy. Mexican recaudo is very similar to Puerto Rican recaíto, and you make it by sautéing 2 jalapeños, 1 charred and peeled tomato, 2 chopped garlic cloves, and 4 spring onions in 2 tablespoons of oil. Add any vegetable you like to the same frying pan and sauté until tender-crisp. Wonderfully layered and deliciously aromatic right away!

Get charring

Do stay nearby, though—don’t start a load of laundry in the meantime—but giving vegetables a good char on the stove or in a very hot oven and then cooking them a little further brings out a lovely light bitterness and umami flavor. That’s delicious with, for example, the heat of chili flakes, the sweetness of teriyaki, or the earthy spice of za’atar. You really have to try this! With cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, pumpkin—it’s all delicious.

Roast your tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes are at their best right now, especially if you choose a slightly more expensive, deep-red variety. Of course, you’ll want to pop them straight into your mouth one after another, but try to resist for a little while. You don’t make this confit only by roasting them slowly in their own juices or goose fat; olive oil can also bring out an incredibly soft umami sweetness in your tomatoes. Toss 1 kg cherry tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet with 2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and freshly ground pepper. Place them in an oven preheated to 220° C and roast for 25 minutes. Remove them as soon as some juice starts to run out of the tomatoes. Let them cool briefly and spoon the released juice into a bowl to use as well. So delicious with hummus and pitas!

Embrace mushrooms

You can now prepare mushrooms in a chef-worthy way too, now that you know that short and hot is the way to go! No more warm, soggy lumps on your plate… Also delicious: pickled mushrooms!

Avocado as a sauce

Sure, guacamole is always a good idea, but you can also make a wonderfully creamy sauce with it to serve over Asian dishes. For example, purée it with 1 garlic clove, salt, sesame oil, and a spoonful of almond milk: delicious over salmon with rice and an egg, plus some stir-fried spinach with crispy chili oil.

You can marinate later too

You can also marinate vegetables after you’ve warmed them slightly. Delicious: roast beets or carrots first, then toss them with a simple vinaigrette and let them sit for half an hour. Mega flavorful. This works perfectly with eggplant or Brussels sprouts too.

Winter vegetables in a summer salad

Now that root vegetables (which often feel like winter vegetables) are available to us year-round, it’s not a bad idea to shave them very thinly and use them raw in salads. Kohlrabi, for example, and other root vegetables are refreshingly peppery and delicious, and with a vegetable peeler or mandoline you can turn them into beautiful ribbons. Rub them with a little olive oil and lemon juice and they’ll give any salad a boost.

With these tips, reaching your two hundred and fifty grams a day should be easy, we think… Vegetables are wonderful, and anyone can turn them into something special. You’ve got this!

Also read:

• Classic: Caesar salad. But what is the proper way to make it?
• Recipe: Cashew crunch salad with sesame dressing
• Raw vegetables? Skip these ones—if you want to stay reasonably healthy

Source: The Kitchn