Introduction

Appears in

Published 2007

About

Vegetables are often the unsung heroes of a meal. They support the main protagonist, usually a meat or fish component, but without them said protagonist would be on the stage alone. No supporting cast, no one to bounce off, no one to talk to, no one to fill the stage when they need a break. Once the meat (or fish) has gone – what’s left?

At The Providores and Tapa Room, our restaurant in London, and also at dine by Peter Gordon, my restaurant in New Zealand, we treat vegetables with the highest respect. In fact, it is often the vegetable that determines the final nature of the main course dish. In spring and summer, there is a plethora of ingredients to choose from, but in the cooler months it tends to be the hard root vegetables that we have to be more inventive with, as well as the brassicas that benefit from frost (cavolo nero, Brussels sprouts) and the onion family – laid down since late summer.

Part of

Vegetables: The New Food Heroes