Jazzing up vegetables

Snuggles

I am trying to eat more vegetables with my meals, but up to now I have always just steamed them and eaten them plain. This gets very boring! It had never even occurred to me that you could dress vegetables in the same way you dress a salad, but I saw an episode of Jamie's 30 Minute Meals where he put some sort of dressing on the veg before serving.

Obviously I know I could put butter on my veg, but I don't really like doing this (even though it tastes good!) as I'm trying to lose weight.

So I'd be really interested to know how other people jazz up their veg (and potatoes). Ideally I'm looking for quick, simple ideas using store cupboard ingredients, but am willing to be a bit more adventurous if it tastes really good!

I'm really hoping this will help me eat more veg, as I love salads with tasty dressings, but find veg a bit boring. So any tips would be much appreciated.

cat_g_83

We use lots of herbs, spices and condiments to make our veggies more exciting.

Try a little bit of nutmeg with dark leafy veg like spinach.
Toasted sesame seeds over carrots.
Little dribble of sesame oil over green beans.
Lemon juice on broad beans and peas.

xxvickixx

I like mint sauce on veg, watered down a bit sometimes. I also adore vinegar on boiled cabbage - yum!
Nutmeg is gorgeous grated onto spinach and cauliflower. I sometimes put sesame seeds onto carrots and parsnips before roasting as well.

fiscalfreckles

Stir fry them & then you can add spices to make them taste oriental? A sprinkle of Five Spice (you buy it powdered in a little spice jar) or add some ginger & garlic.

Peas are nice with a bit of mint or a dash of mint sauce.

You can serve veg Mediterranean style in a tomato sauce; add a squeeze of tomato puree with garlic & herbs (nice with peppers, courgette, mushrooms & onion; soften in a saucepan or roast them in the oven). Or reduce a tin of tomatoes with the additions & use as a sauce.

The same sauce is nice over little roast potatoes, you can add a bit of chili powder & have "patatas bravas" a Spanish tapas.

Potato wedges are quite low fat and you can toss them in herbs or spices (Cajun spice?) before roasting.

Cabbage can be cooked in apple juice with sliced apple & black pepper.

I'll keep thinking...

Mel2

Roasted vegetables are gorgeous. I use chunks of carrot, potato, beetroot, parsnip, onions, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, cauliflower. Do the potatoes, parsnips, beetroot and onions first as they take longer then add the others after about 20 minutes. I just chop them all up, spray with frylight as I'm following Slimming world but a drop of olive oil is even better, toss them around and sprinkle with salt and pepper and dried herbs if you like, then bake at around 180 until done. Yum!

ceridwen

Good quality olive oil and some freshly-squeezed lemon juice on steamed veg:)

lostinrates

I like t think I'm quite good at jazzing up veg. Tonight for example we ar having an old standby...peas. Now, in the peas to night are some spring onions, and they are going to be sauted. usually I'd ad spinach or lettuce, and a little white wine and cream. Or a little sour cream. Or a little yogurt. Carrots are often cheered up wih some dill and capers, white cabbage with some cumin and butter, we miss cauliflower cheese if we don't have it with a midwinter steak..but equally, its often easy to fall into the same ways of jazzing up. Alone, I LOVE plain, or lightly fussed with steamed veg the best, followed by roast veg. Making food you can have veg IN helps too. e.g. lunch today we had tunas sandwiches..well pita breads. I made a mix of tuna, a little mayo, a couple of spring onions (yes, the same much later used for supper) a good three inches of cucumber chopped in, three tomatoes, an two stick of celery. So bursting with veg which added yummy crunch but didn't interfere with the ''tuna'' taste of the sandwich. You could apply the same to stews, one pot meals and soups.

LJM

definately try roasting them it gives them a completely different flavour

rachbc

oooh soo many things you can do - few of our favs

carrots - baked in foil with various flavourings - (orange, coriander seeds, thyme, white wine, cumin), roast with olive oil and touch of honey/ maple syrup, tossed with butter a smidge of brown sugar

broccolli - tossed with sesame seeds/ oil, stir fried with lots of garlic, sprinkled with red chilli flakes, cooked til very soft and kinda smushed up with chilli and tiny bit of anchovy

peas - with mint, with spring onions and shredded lettuce, mashed up with a bit of pesto, with pumkin seeds and fresh basil

cabbage - loads of butter and nutmeg, sauted with bacon and thyme, steamed with lots of lemon juice then tossed in butter, steam fried with nigella/ black cumin seeds, brasied with juniper

Snuggles

Thank you so much for all the suggestions, I can't wait to try them all! :j

pixie1

I like roasting veg mixed in honey, wholegrain mustard and balsamic - yummy!!!

Pix