Vegetable Side Dishes

Appears in
Almost Vegetarian Cookbook
Almost Vegetarian Cookbook

By Josceline Dimbleby

Published 1999

  • About
This chapter is far removed from the accompanying vegetable dishes which you might have had in many British or American homes 30 years ago. We have come to appreciate vegetables far more in recent years, a much greater variety are available and we have learned to cook them properly. We have also realized from foreign travel and cuisines that instead of serving, for example, separate bowls of unseasoned greens and plain boiled potatoes simply as accompaniments to the main dish, vegetables can be combined both with each other and with herbs, spices, interesting oils or other aromatic seasonings to become a much more important part of the meal. Three or four contrasting dishes taken from this chapter, served together, would make a satisfying vegetarian meal, or they can be served with a main course of chicken or fish. Mixing vegetables together when they have been cooked in different ways can produce an exciting combination of textures and often looks decorative too. The fact that vegetables are so varied in taste, form and texture, and that they contain flavours ranging from stimulatingly bitter to softly sweet has made this one of the most pleasurable chapters to work on. It has left me feeling that I want to try out all sorts of other combinations.