Easy Side Dishes: The Joy of Veggies

Vegetables get a bad rap, and really, that's not fair. Vegetables can be absolutely delicious and a lovely compliment to any meal. Sadly, they can also be some of the most foul, poorly-cooked monstrosities ever served. The number one reason why people don't like a vegetable is that every time they've had it before, it was cooked poorly. Today, I want to enlighten you on the joys of cooking with vegetables in two very easy side dishes. Bring an open mind and an empty stomach.

Let's start off with one of my favorite vegetables of all time: Broccoli. Now, broccoli's got a bad rap - why? Well, a lot of people have only ever eaten it after it's been steamed or boiled to a disgusting, gray-green, stringy mess and that's just no good. A well-cooked broccoli should appear to be a slightly brighter green than it was uncooked, and it should still have a little bit of a crunch to it when you bite into it.

As with many other pieces of produce, the key to a good broccoli dish is in proper selection at the grocery store. When selecting broccoli to take home, make sure it has a nice, firm stalk. You also want to look at the little "buds" on the top of the broccoli - they should all be about the same size. If you notice a large cluster of buds that are larger and darker than the rest, you have in your hands an older bunch of broccoli with more matured buds that won't be as tasty as the rest of the plant.

While steaming is often the cooking method of choice for broccoli - and I certainly suggest it for anyone who has one of those tin satellite dishes with holes in them - most newbie cooks have very few tools at there disposal. This means for a lot of folks out there, blanching - my favorite method of cooking broccoli - will be the best method of cooking veggies available to them. To blanch a food means to plunge it in boiling water for a short period of time, then to evacuate your veggies to a bath or rinse of cold water to halt the cooking process.

The danger in cooking broccoli is certainly overcooking it. Many people don't know that just because a dish has been removed from the oven, microwave or heating element doesn't mean it's stopped cooking. The heat stored within the food will continue the cooking process unless stopped - hence the wisdom of blanching. Well, now that I've bored you with the details, let's get down to the actual recipes.

Blanched Broccoli

Serves: 2-3
Cook Time: ~15 minutes, including prep
Difficulty: Easy

Hardware
-Pot with lid
-Colander (strainer)
-Fork
-Stovetop
-Sink
-Large bowl or other container filled with ice water (optional)

Foodstuffs
-2 to 3 good sized stalks of broccoli
-Butter (optional)
-Salt and pepper (optional)
-Lemon wedge (optional)
-Mayonnaise (optional)
-Ranch Dressing (optional)

Fill your pot about 2/3rds full of water, put on high heat with lid to boil. While your water is heating up, rinse your broccoli and chop it down into bite-sized pieces. If you are not a big fan of broccoli stalk, trim it off - the stem is not necessary and can be discarded, though I think it's tasty. When your water is boiling, add the broccoli pieces. Do not put the lid back on the pot. Stir the broccoli constantly, allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the broccoli becomes a brighter shade of green and can be pierced by a fork with some ease. Drain in colander in your sink and rinse or dunk in a bath of ice water.

Broccoli can be served with any number of tasty condiments, some popular favorites I listed in the ingredients above. Personally, I like mine with just a touch of salt and pepper, and maybe a small amount of butter.

Another controversial vegetable is the green bean. It shares many of its troubles with broccoli, but thankfully those troubles can be resolved much like broccoli. When shopping for green beans, make sure the beans are still fresh. They should be somewhat stiff, and not at all droopy or soft. Haricots verts, or French green beans, can sometimes be found in your local grocery store or farmer's market. They're a slightly thinner version of the American green bean and are very tasty. For the most part, you can reliably find green beans or "string beans" in any American grocery store.

While you could just blanch the green beans and be done with them, I like to make mine a little fancier.

Green Beans with Olive Oil and Lemon

Serves: 2-3
Cook Time: ~15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Hardware
-Pot with lid
-Colander (strainer)
-Frying pan
-Fork
-Stovetop
-Sink
-Large bowl or other container filled with ice water (optional)

Foodstuffs
-2 to 3 cups worth of fresh green beans
-Juice from 1 lemon
-1/4 cup olive oil

Fill your pot about 2/3rds full of water, put on high heat with lid to boil. While your water is heating up, rinse your beans and cut off the ends of each bean. When your water is boiling, add the beans. Do not put the lid back on the pot. Stir the beans constantly, allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the beans become a brighter shade of green and can be pierced by a fork with some ease. Drain in colander in your sink and rinse or dunk in a bath of ice water.

Remove beans from water, and let drain. Heat up olive oil and juice from lemon in pan. Add beans to pan, cook together for a minute or two, then serve.