Choose fresh and seasonal vegetables. They'll have more flavor and nutrients, and are also less likely to have been treated with pesticides and preservatives.
1. Add ground nutmeg to eggplant, spinach, squash, and to beef gravies and stews.
2. Use sugar as a seasoning. A small pinch or two in vegetables gives them a fresher taste without making them sweet.
3. Add a pinch of ground oregano, basil and a small pinch of sugar to any recipe that includes tomatoes.
Bring baked potatoes to the next level by baking in the usual way: oil skins, place in 400 F oven, bake until you can pierce skin easily with a fork. Remove from oven and cut into halves immediately. Scoop out potato and mash, adding 1/2 to 3/4 cup liquid for moisture (use milk for vegetables and cheese, or beef stock or consommé with meats. Put mixture back into skins and broil shortly for additional brownness and crispy tops.
1. Adding bits of cooked pork sausage.
2. Stuffing baked potatoes with left-over ground beef, mixed with brown onions and a dash of Worcestershire.
3. Adding a mixture of diced celery, green pepper, and crisp bacon.
4. Switching to Swiss cheese instead of cheddar and adding snips of scallions.
Try something new with new potatoes.
1. Quick-fry them after parboiling in their own jackets.
2. Broil them in the oven. Peel them and put into broiler with plenty of butter, shaking them frequently for over all brownness. They'll be done in about 15 minutes. Serve hot sprinkled with paprika and parsley.
3. Mix them with fresh green peas in a sauce made of melted butter and crisp bacon bits. Add lemon juice just before serving.
4. For deliciously dry boiled potatoes drain off all the water. Dry on a clean cloth and put them back into the empty pot over low heat for a few minutes.
5. Snap up green beans with sliced water chestnuts, a few cashew nuts, almonds, bean sprouts. Mix with equal amount of fresh peas a few of the pea pods.
6. Make French fried vegetables. Dip the following into an egg-and-milk batter and fry quickly in oil: tender sprigs of parsley, cauliflower, okra, green beans, silvers of eggplant and fresh green tomato slices. For the batter use: 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup milk, 3/4 cup cake flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt. To test the oil for readiness drop a cube of bread in the oil. If it browns immediately you're ready for frying the vegetables. Fry until golden brown and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.
Give your hard-working onion a raise!
1. See what it does to ordinary summer squash when fried in golden bits and added with a handful of diced hard-cooked eggs. To brown onions use half olive oil and half butter. The olive oil brings flavor and won't brown or burn as quickly as the butter. This method is also good for mushrooms and green peppers.
2. Bake boiling-size onions with a glaze of honey and soy sauce. Broil them on skewers with the same sauce.
3. Add a couple of tablespoons of browned minced onions to fresh spinach.
4. Parboil large, sweet onions, hollow out the middles, and stuff with corned-beef hash. Top with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese and bake quickly.
5. Add a few browned onions to macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes.
Be experimental in mixing vegetables as an attention-getter. Perfect partners are:
1. Green peas with canned or fresh mushrooms.
2. Okra, tomatoes, green peppers, corn.
3. Baked eggplant, tomatoes, green peppers and onions: boil eggplant for 12 minutes, dice the pulp and mix with other raw vegetables, Season with salt, pepper, oil ground basil and oregano, and put them all back in the egg plant skin and bake in the over for about 20 minutes.
4. Hominy with ripe olive slices, butter, and a little cream.
5. Whole vegetables, stuffed, make hearty delicious main courses. In addition to peppers try tomatoes with cheddar cheese, crisp bacon, some of the tomato pulp. Top with more bacon and cheese and broil.
6. Try eggplant boiled or baked, mixed with cooked lamb, browned onions, a tomato, dashes of ground nutmeg, rosemary, salt and pepper stuffed into eggplant skin topped with bread crumbs and grated cheese, then baked.
7. Stuff flat pattypan squash with cooked hamburger, green pepper, hard-cooked egg, mixed with a little French dressing and baked.
8. Use cornmeal as a thickener for corn pudding, using about half as much as you wouldof flour. You can also use fewer eggs.
9. Cook a couple of lettuce leaves (outer ones preferably) with either fresh or frozen peas. Use no, or almost no water since there's plenty of water in the lettuce. Add a sprinkle of sugar and a few boiled onions if desired.
10. Never boil vegetables vigorously. Always cook them at low heat, just at boiling point. Cok in a tightly covered vessel, with never more than the minimum amount of water. They are always at their best when crisp and should never be soft and mushy. It's much better to add seasonings and herbs after cooking.
11. Crisp reminders for salad: Never cut the greens. Tear them into desired size. Cutting makes them limp and bruises them. Always wash salad greens and spinach in very cold water. Shake off excess water gently and place in a bowl large enough so they won't be crushed. Refrigerate for about an hour before mixing with dressing.
12. Try stuffed olives with rice for a change.
13. Green pas with rice served hot or cold with a French dressing are also good.
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