Okay - that's how I did them - guess they just don't suit my palette. Oh well, can't like everything. I'm starting to like broccoli - IF it has some cheese on it - so I do like some veggies that are good for me. :-))
Sharon (N.B.)
Sharon, after they have cooked like this (I do X), I pop them in a frypan with a little olive oil, some sliced scallion (green/spring onion), a little thyme, oregano and pepper; saute these until they smell yummy, and the onion is cooked, and the outer leaves are very slightly browned. It was popular with some non-sprout eaters. I also get rid of leftover sprouts this way, too.
Gillian
Gill Murray ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with
Yes another good method. Also, I meant to add sprouts should be cooked with no lid on the saucepan. A lid tends to give them that off taste.
My grandmother always taught that if it grows above the ground (sprouts) then no lid, underneath the ground (potatoes) then slap the lid on.
Now that is an interesting twist, and one I hadn't heard of before. My mother ( and grandmother) taught me that if it grows above the ground,(peas, sprouts, beans), you put it in boiling water. If it grows beneath the ground (carrots, potatoes etc) you put it in a pan of cold water, and then bring it up to the boil!
Gillian
My favorite sprouts recipe comes from Cooking Light a few years back. It goes like this:
in a large pan, fry up some bacon. While the bacon is cooking, take the sprouts and slice them top to bottom - 4-5 slices each. Now you have shredded Brussels sprouts. Remove and save (don't eat it yet) the bacon. Toss the sprouts in the bacon fat and cook. At this point you can add a clove of chopped garlic if you like. Cook about 5 minutes or so. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and cover. Cook another 5 minutes. To finish I add dried cherries or cranberries, toasted hazelnuts or pine nuts, and the bacon. My kids love this.
Donna in Virginia
Gill Murray ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with
Yes that too. Drives me mad when people bring green veggies to the boil in cold water and then wonder why they lose their colour and taste awful !
I've been in with a bug for a couple of days and nipped over to the stupidmarket early this a.m. for groceries. I was getting some sprouts and noticed some packets in the same area - peeled, ready to use, cloves of garlic and ready to heat mashed spuds. Soon people should be born without hands is all I could think !
They're terrible if they get mushy. The classic way I learned is to trim the bottom, slash a small "X" in the stem nub, and you can take off the 2 most outer leaves - if they're falling away from the head. Then you just throw them in some salted boiling water, let simmer - not too much water - and let them cook till just bright. You can really see the color change. Take them out, and just a bit of salt/pepper, a little butter - I use some lemon on them - and they're really good. Kind of a nutty meets cabbage taste. Slashing the stem allows them to cook from the inside as well, so you don't have to overcook them. Just takes a few minutes of the simmer .
The prior chef at the club restaurant at the downtown arena here used to do some kind of flash fry with them - they were fabulous - as an appetizer. I think he tossed them in some bread crumbs, roasted and then flashed them - great crispy appies - but I haven't quite figured it out yet. He did that with artichokes also, and DH is addicted to them.
Ellice
I'm sure there is a standard for this in Joy of Cooking, and similar type books.
I was thinking about this and realized that what I do is steam my vegetables. I do start with cold water under the steamer but it doesn't take very long to come up to a boil. Re sprouts - I like them parcooked, tossed in olive oil and roasted on a sheet pan in a 375 oven. You can also include cubes of butternut squash, parsnips, beets, etc. for a delicious roasted vegetable medley!
Just looked up cooking potatoes on cooks.com and they said to cook potatoes in boiling water rather than cold - some of nutrients lost in cold water and doesn't really start cooking till water begins to boil.
Alison
On Feb 3, 5:14 am, Cheryl Isaak
I should probably add the caveat that I don't cook veggies in the oven for a gourmet experience. I do so to reduce dishes. No extra pot to wash afterwards and even fewer dishes if the cat gets at them. Dora
You sound just like me, but I don't even bend to put them in the regular oven. I put them on a piece of tinfoil and use my toaster oven instead.
Lucille
>
I have tried the mashed spuds, and they are pretty good. However, they need to do them in very small containers, for one serving only. I can't be bothered to make a small serving of real mashed spuds just for me...........and it would be great to cheat with the refrigerated ones; the packets now serve 5, and need to be thrown away after 3 days; now that is a hell of a waste of money for me.
We should start a campaign for things to be packaged in smaller sizes for people who only want 1 or 2 servings at a time. I imagine a lot of us would be willing to pay a few cents more if we didn't have to toss out so much food.
Lucille
I cook all my veggies in the microwave. Greens get a squirt of fresh lemon juice after cooking. Some things get a little added touch of butter or olive oil.
Olwyn Mary in New Orleans
I know the answer. Make the restaurants happy and eat out more.
Lucille
I must confess to an aversion to dried potato powder after being fed the stuff once or twice a week along with the contents of other "compo" (composite rations) during my 12 years in the RAF. On one overseas station we had an RAF cook who proudly claimed to know 46 unique ways to serve corned beef!
On Feb 3, 9:53 am, "Lucille" wrote
I freeze a LOT of things in individual portions. I should have frozen up the meat loaf this week as well-I'm still working away on it. But I usually have chicken broth frozen in 3 cup containers, rice cooked and frozen in 1 cup portions and whatever else I've been cooking lately. This is probably going to be a sweet & sour soup week, as I'm oversupplied in stock and have some frozen shrimp that I should use up.
I also buy a lot of frozen foods. Many entrees come in individual portions, or can be divided up, like ginger beef or sweet & sour pork.
Dora
I freeze lots of stuff too, but there's only so much room for the individual containers and that only works for certain things. Potatoes for example don't freeze well, except for fries and those I can live without.
Lucille
Sharon, Try a little curry powder and butter? Cook/steam, slice the sprouts. Melt the butter in a pan, toss in curry powder and toss the sprouts in the pan.
Cheryl
I remember the ghastly yellow stuff we had for school lunches; it was like wallpaper paste. Happily these days the instant mashed from the box, with flakes, not powder, can be made really tasty. Some come already garlic flavored, but you can always add a little sourcream, garlic or whatever to the water and milk in which you cook them.
Gillian
Our supermarket also makes it clear that you can ask the butcher to make up a smaller packet. Fresh produce is (mostly) sold loose, so you can take as much or as little as you like.
My problem is the canned/jarred foods, which the supermarket sells only in family-size containers. The little Mom & Pop store carries the smaller cans, which I can finish before the contents go bad. To keep tabs on any developing allergies, I eat a rotation diet, 3-4 days between eating the same thing, so if a can has 4 servings in it, the last of the contents will be in the fridge at least a week and a half before I finish it. At that point, corn and peas are definitely well beyond palatability.
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