When preparing vegetables, it is important to choose the appropriate method, which depends on what kind of vegetables are planned for lunch or dinner, and also on the taste preferences of those who will be eating. The next important point, exciting more and more supporters of proper nutrition, is how to preserve the nutrients contained in vegetables as much as possible during cooking.
How to cook vegetables in a slow cooker
Modern multi-cookers have many functions, and therefore are indispensable for cooking vegetables. As an example, you can quickly fry cauliflower or broccoli inflorescences in them, sprinkling with your favorite spices - perhaps sweet paprika or Provencal herbs. The non-stick bowl found on most multicooker allows you to cook this dish without using vegetable oil.
For those who play sports or for other calorie restricting reasons, the sweet pepper zucchini cooked with a multicooker in the steamed mode will also be appreciated. To make the vegetables tastier, you can sprinkle them with lemon juice.
For those who are not afraid of high cholesterol and extra pounds, we recommend cooking French fries in a slow cooker. To do this, pour vegetable oil into a bowl, heat, lower the dried potato sticks and fry with the lid closed until tender. It is better to salt the fries after removing them from the multicooker.
The pumpkin casserole is also very tasty. When preparing this vegetable dish, stew the pumpkin slices, then saute the onions, add a raw egg, process with a blender and bake, sprinkling with peeled pumpkin seeds.
How to cook vegetables in the oven
In the oven, you can cook vegetables in two main ways: baked in foil or parchment, and also under some kind of sauce. The first method is good for potatoes, sweet peppers, large pieces of white cabbage, kohlrabi. Before baking, prepare them, dry them, rub with salt, if you limit table salt to herbs and spices. Wrap in foil or parchment - the more thoroughly you do this, the tastier your vegetables will be in the oven. It is recommended to bake them at a moderate temperature (not higher than 150-170 degrees). A hotter oven prevents a significant portion of the vitamins and minerals from being stored.
Having decided to cook vegetables in the oven under one of the sauces, it is important to cut them correctly. Chop carrots, beets, roast celery, and other root vegetables with a food processor. Zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, bell peppers - cut into slices. Onions - depending on what kind of vegetable dish you will cook - chop into cubes or cut into half rings.
When choosing a sauce for baking vegetables in the oven, give preference to creamy or cheese. It is these sauces that are most in harmony with vegetable dishes. But it is worth considering - they, unfortunately, have a high calorie content. For those who adhere to the rules of a healthy diet, you can consider recipes for sauces based on tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Do not think that such sauces are good only cold. Vegetables cooked in the oven under a spicy, aromatic tomato, onion, garlic sauce can be a real discovery even for gourmets.
Another sauce that is extremely suitable for cooking vegetables is mushroom. It doesn't matter if it is cooked from porcini mushrooms, mossy mushrooms, boletus and boletus mushrooms dried since autumn, or frozen champignons - vegetables baked with mushroom sauce will be an excellent dish for lunch or dinner with your family.
How to grill vegetables
In the host of modern household appliances, there are three types of grills: a double-sided contact (thermal electric heating elements are located on both sides - top and bottom, such a grill seems to be closed with a book), a one-sided contact (a thermal element from the bottom) and a grill that provides cooking with infra - red radiation. You can cook delicious vegetables on any of them.
It is better to choose non-soft vegetables for grilling, maybe even a little unripe. It is in this case that they will not turn into porridge and will keep their shape well. Especially the recommendation applies to tomatoes - grilling them is a real art.
Prepare an oily marinade before cooking vegetables. The perfect combination is olive oil and lemon juice in equal proportions. You can add garlic, herbs or spices to them - your imagination is not limited by anything but your taste. Apply the marinade to grilled vegetables just before cooking. It is better to do this with a silicone brush. Whether or not to add salt and pepper at this stage is also a matter of taste. Professional chefs serve them with ready-made vegetables. As a rule, it is better to take sea salt for such vegetables, and grind pepper right at the table.
How to cook frozen vegetables
The stores offer a wide range of frozen vegetables. Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, broccoli, green peas, corn, green beans, their mixtures in all kinds of combinations and a wide variety of purposes - all this is available even in small towns.
To prepare frozen vegetables, all you have to do is decide which dish you want to offer your family today. However, there are a few tricks that make frozen vegetables especially tasty. So, for example, if you decide to make a vegetable casserole, simmer the mixture in a saucepan so that excess liquid comes out of it, which inevitably remains after defrosting. And only after that, transfer to a baking dish, season with spices and, possibly, pour over the sauce.
Do the same for frying frozen vegetables. The only difference is that after letting it simmer, it is recommended to dry them properly with a paper or cloth napkin. It is best to stew frozen vegetables or steam them, then intermediate heat treatment loses its relevance.
When deciding how you want to cook your vegetables, it's important not to discount the question of what to serve them with. In almost all cases, vegetables - whether they are cooked in a slow cooker, baked in the oven or steamed from the freeze - require a sauce. An exception is if it has already been used in the process of cooking vegetables. Another accompaniment that should be foreseen in advance is bread. Ideally, this should be a multi-grain whole grain bread or wholemeal bread. It is these types of bread that go well with vegetable dishes.
