Knowing how to cook with and use vegetables is a fundamental life skill, I believe. Yet, the most common question farmers hear at farmers markets is “What can I do with this?” or some version of the same, expressing frustration, tinged with fear. We all acknowledge that they’re beautiful, virtuous and healthy but, sadly, many people feel helpless when it comes to vegetables.
The simple truth is that, as a culture, we’ve lost some of our most basic skills—including cooking—but hope is not lost. I believe that we all have something to teach. I’m not a talented cook, but I’m comfortable in the kitchen, and I aim to share that information in an encouraging way.
And, I love vegetables. The variety, personalities and sheer beauty of vegetables excite me and give me joy. The closer to home those veggies are grown, the more excited I get.
I’ve been writing a “Fresh Today” column for the local paper, the Concord Monitor, focusing on just one vegetable at a time. My goal is to encourage people to seek out locally grown vegetables and to just experiment with them.
I’d like to demystify vegetables, one by one, by providing the most basic information: how to choose them, their claims to fame (historically and nutritionally), how to store them and a few basic cooking techniques. Not recipes. There are plenty of talented food writers doing that; I just want people to feel empowered to “just do it.”
In a way, I think the proliferation of cooking shows on television, along with the endless array of cooking websites, food blogs and beautiful cookbooks, have contributed to a fear of cooking at the same time that they’ve inspired the masses—like a meal’s got to be amazing or it’s just not good enough. If I had to guess, I’d say that the Food Network itself has created more foodies of the eating out variety than the cooking in variety. Just a hunch.
It’s just ridiculous to think that every kitchen creation has to be a masterpiece. If you’re starting with fresh, high-quality local ingredients, the flavors and textures will tell the story with a bare minimum of assistance from the cook. Add a few herbs and spices that you love, along with a hefty sprinkle of adventure, and cooking becomes what it should be. Fun and satisfying—not a competition.
I’d like to remove the obstacles between fresh, local vegetables and the dinner plate. I’d like to ignite passion for lesser-known heirloom varieties and the fun of trying new things in the kitchen. I’d like to inspire people to take a second look at even a vegetable they’ve known for a long time, by capturing their imagination with something unusual .
No vegetable is too common or too unusual to deserve attention. Next up for Fresh Today is lettuce, and I need your help.
Is lettuce just for salads? How do you choose lettuce, if you’re buying it? Have you ever used it in hot dishes? When you have a glut of lettuce in the garden or your CSA share, how do you keep it interesting?
Let us share our lettuce thoughts…
You’re making me feel better about my recent post on fried egg and tomato sandwiches.
I use lettuce in spring rolls. I have had lettuce soup but haven’t ever made it.
Truth is, I make so many different salads that we don’t mind having one every night. I posted my “favorite salad #2″, with Mediterranean influences: http://ozarkhomesteader.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/favorite-salad-2-mediterranean-and-other-than-that-youll-just-have-to-read/
I’ll be curious to see what your other readers say!
Beautiful recipe! I’m finding such a nice variety of fresh, local feta (sheep, goat and cow) lately; it gives an exotic flavor to even the simplest of salads. I’ll try this one!
Thanks, Eleanor. I wish I could get a firm, local goat (or sheep) cheese here. That’s one thing that I can’t get locally.
Time for a milking goat of your own, to keep those chickens company? :)
This column concept is right on! It is exactly the kind of thing I also see a need for. Tried to find them on the Concord Monitor site but couldn’t (willing to believe it was me, had a hard time navigating, equally willing to think they’re not online ;). Wonder if you could syndicate the column to the seacoast newspapers? ;)
I’m glad you also see the need for this kind of information / inspiration. The column runs in the Insider, which is the Tuesday insert. Here’s a link to one of them, on radishes. That’s a great idea, to offer it to the Portsmouth Herald…I just may do that!
Thanks for the link! And if the Herald doesn’t bite, there’s Foster’s and The Wire! :)
You are doing such great work, Eleanor. Like you, I love veggies and we try them all when they are in season and whether we do something funky with them or just grill them with some fresh herbs, salt and pepper – they are all fantastic.
Being the CSA pickup location this year, I’ve heard a lot of questions from members regarding how to cook this or that – kihlrobi for instance, which showed up in our boxes last week. I’m happy to give them ideas.
As for lettuce – I had 6 heads in my fridge at one point last week and so we were eating lots of salad. It’s been so hot here and so we don’t mind. Even Isaac is eating it. A suggestion for your readers is to blend it up by adding it to their smoothies. You can throw in A LOT of lettuce and get a great does of greens along with your berries and bananas and whatever else you are using. Soon these fresh lettuce days will be over – I’m holding on to them as long as I can. :)
I love that you’re serving as your CSA pickup site this year. That’s such a generous, community-minded thing to do. Even better, you’re structuring a whole weekly fun event around vegetables—what an experience for Isaac. I’m sure you hear all possible comments, questions and ideas about vegetables; I look forward to hearing more about that whole experience. I’ll definitely include the smoothie tip in my article. Thanks!
Eleanor
Vegetables can be intimidating, that’s for sure. Anything you can do to demystify them will be appreciated!!
That’s the goal…somewhere along the way, thanks to a world of convenience foods, we’ve lost some really basic cooking skills. In reality, it’s not very hard at all to cook with fresh veggies, and they’re so delicious!
I love the fact that you’re not giving out “recipes.” Far better to learn the flavor profile of a vegetable, understand how it holds up under certain techniques and discover the flavors that compliment it. Then, instead of having a single recipe in your “kitchen repertoire,” you instead have the skill set to make as many dishes as your imagination can conceive!
My true confession is that I don’t often use recipes myself, so wouldn’t have much to share! I find it much more liberating to just jump in and cook. As long as I’m willing to eat my experiments, all is well!
My dinner meal is always placed a top a bed of lettuce greens.
That’s a lovely routine. A bed of lettuce will make anything beautiful!