Are you stuck in a rut when cooking vegetables? Steamed broccoli, roasted carrots and salads that are mainly lettuce?
Aren’t we all. No wonder, since five-a-day is no longer enough for the nutri-dictators who now demand 30 different plants to be eaten in a week! So all the energy is spent on finding what else counts as plant and how to squeeze it into your menu, leaving us with no idea of how to cook those plants in other than tried and tested, but boring ways.
So how about a leek slaw, hot buttered beetroots or blistered sugar snaps? Here’s a collection of less ordinary but super delicious recipes for common vegetables.
For an excellent side, blister green beans or sugar snap peas under the oven grill and flavour them with crispy chilli oil. It’s a quick and easy version of Sichuan dry fried beans and crispy chilli oil is truly a magic condiment.
Blistered beans with chilli oil
RECIPE
It doesn’t have to feature only in sad vinegary salad! Beetroot, peeled and grated, cooked with butter and flavoured with creamed horseradish, is an excellent side dish to mackerel, salmon or pork. Once grated, it takes only ten minutes to cook.
A vibrant, festive side dish of roasted red cabbage with pears, pomegranate molasses, butter and cashew nuts, rich in flavour, texture and antioxidants. This gorgeous recipe delivers tangy, sweet notes and it’s perfect for festive tables or any hearty meal.
Sweet and sour red cabbage
RECIPE
Sautéed sliced mushrooms flavoured with miso, butter and Parmesan are a great side dish and a genuine umami bomb. King oyster mushrooms used here are delicious and versatile, but ordinary champignons will do just as well.
Miso Parmesan mushrooms
RECIPE
I bet you didn’t know that cucumbers are delicious cooked? Stir-fried cucumbers Asian style, with ginger, garlic and a pinch of chilli are spicy but also refreshing which is logical as cukes are 96% water.
Courgettes are transformed here into creamy delight. Caramelised courgettes with basil and garlic: is it a sauce, a condiment, a side dish? All of those and more.
Sesame roasted broccoli with a hint of sweetness from maple syrup, soused in olive and sesame oil, ready in 20 minutes. Broccoli like you’ve never tasted before!
Sesame roasted broccoli
RECIPE
The best carrot salad without mayonnaise or mustard, carrots exploding with flavour. This simple grated or julienned carrot salad takes minutes to prepare and goes well with any main dish.
Leeks are incredibly healthy when eaten raw, did you know? Leek slaw is a simple salad of thinly sliced raw leeks with cucumber and radish, seasoned with black pepper and honey.
A medley full of flavour and a twist on a ratatouille: Provençal style aubergine, courgette and mushrooms gently cooked in anchovy sauce with garlic and a touch of lemon. It’s good enough to be served on its own, with fresh bread.
Anchovy braised vegetables
RECIPE