Facts about vegetables
You mash potatoes with butter and chives, bathe broccoli florets in cheese sauce and stick plain butter on peas, carrots or corn. And greens? That's bagged lettuce at your house.
Get out of your vegetable rut and up your veggie credentials by adding a couple new ones to your repertoire. Take our quiz, and then lavish these mysterious gems with a little culinary love.
common vegetables,
Calling it "baby" means it's a mini version of the full-size Chinese cabbage.
Comes with: Calcium, vitamin C
Cook: Overcook it and it gets mushy. Instead, blanch one minute in boiling salted water; drain. Sauté lightly in a bit of oil
Baby bok choy, calcium,
This long, white, fleshy vegetable is related to another root.
Comes with: Vitamin C, potassium
Cook: Peel, halve large ones, slather with olive oil, then roast 50 minutes in a 375-degree oven
calcium, vitamin c, Baby bok choy
Looks like a parsnip but has a crisp parsley taste (naturally).
Comes with: Magnesium, vitamin K
Cook: Grate the root into a potato-based soup seasoned with bay, chopped parsley and shallots.
carrot, parsnip
This vegetable, which plays nice with spices, comes in a myriad of colors, sizes and shapes.
Comes with: Vitamin C, fiber
Cook: Spread florets in shallow baking pan. Top with strips of bacon cut in two-inch pieces. Slow roast in a hot oven until bacon crisps. Or, mash them.
parsley, parsley root
Like a tiny onion, but much milder.
Comes with: Protein
Cook: Glaze whole with a sweet-sour mix: Cook a bit of chopped prosciutto in olive oil. Add another layer. Cook golden. Add splashes of sherry, sherry vinegar, prune juice. Simmer covered until tender. Uncover, reduce to glaze.
Cauliflower, shallots, prosciutto, sherry fortified wine, sherry vinegar, prune juice
This lovely perennial herb has aromatic bulbs and fronds.
Comes with: Fiber, carbohydrates
Cook: Puree fronds with lots of parsley, some green onions, garlic, olive oil and lemon to serve with cold meats, fish. The bulb? Lavish halves with olive oil, roast.
fennel
Vitami- rich, mild-flavored and colorful leaves.
Comes with: Protein, sodium
Cook: Cut off the greens, slice ribs thinly crosswise. Steam or sauté ribs a minute or two. Add greens. Cook to tender. Stir into a cream sauce or sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
rainbow chard
Beautiful color, bold flavor.
Comes with: Vitamin A, vitamin K
Cook: Cut stems in one-inch pieces; chop leaves. Sauté sliced garlic cloves to golden in olive oil; remove. Add stems, cook to barely tender. Add greens, cook until tender-crisp. Add garlic, salt, pepper and a red wine-vinegar drizzle.
Broccoli rabe
This vegetable has a lovely gentle onion flavor.
Comes with: Vitamin A, vitamin K
Cook: Trim the root end and a good part of the green leaves. Rub with olive oil and roast 20 minutes or so in a 375-degree oven. Or, make a soup.
leek vegetable
It's a low-calorie, crisp substitute for water chestnuts.
Comes with: Carbohydrates, protein
Cook: Stir-fry julienned with carrots and chopped watercress leaves and flavor with soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and black sesame seeds. Or, make a salad.
Jicama, water chestnuts
Its mild flavor and spaghetti-like strands are a great foil for many sauces.
Comes with: Vitamin C, vitamin B6
Cook: Bake whole. Halve, remove seeds and scrape out flesh into a pile of crunchy spaghetti-like strands. Toss with cheese and butter or top with a favorite tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese.
spaghetti squash
Have this healthier vegetable rather than a popular carbohydrate.
Comes with: Vitamin C
Cook: Trim, peel, cut turnips, sweet potatoes, parsnips, rutabaga into one- inch cubes. Toss with olive oil, ground cumin and coriander, plus salt, pepper. Place in a shallow foil-lined baking pan. Roast at 400 degrees until tender, browned.
potatoes, sweet potatoes, Turnips,
Source:msn
