Vegetables

THE POOR OLD VEGETABLE OFTEN GETS NEGLECTED AND ENDS UP AS A BIT OF AN AFTERTHOUGHT ON THE DINNER TABLE. You may as well forget vegetables if you are not going to take good care of them in both the preparation and cooking stages. How many times has a restaurant served you sloppy, under- or overcooked vegetables with no seasoning? I quite like the Spanish approach where they just don’t serve any side orders of vegetables; they’re simply integrated into the starter or main course.

We are not just talking peas and carrots here, though. There are some amazing vegetables out there which we tend to forget about that make fantastic stand-alone meals. When I have a dinner party at home and there are vegetarians present, I will take the opportunity to make the whole meal vegetarian. It’s not as taxing as it may sound. We have so many great vegetables available to choose from these days, and shopping for them in supermarkets, farmers’ markets, and specialist greengrocers can be an adventure.