Browning vegetables.

There are a lot of people who say they just don't like vegetables. And it is very hard to shake that point of view. It astonishes me, every time I see the reports on the average per capita vegetable consumption in the United States. When I see those numbers, I just have to assume that there are six or seven people who aren't eating any, because I'm eating their share.
I LOVE vegetables. I think that anyone who loves food, loves vegetables. Not all of them. You are NOT going to get me to eat Brussel sprouts. NO WAY. Well, maybe one way: with walnuts, shredded apples, and honey. But that's more like cabbage candy than vegetables, isn't it?

I think that part of the general antipathy toward vegetables comes from not having had them prepared properly. "The Joy of Cooking" used to recommend boiling green beans for 30 minutes. I can't imagine that. If I had to eat something like that and identified it as "vegetable," well, I wouldn't like them either. Cooking vegetables is easy once you get the hang of it, but I would suggest that it's a mixture of an "art" and a "craft."

One way to cook vegetables that is frequently overlooked, is browning them, in a frying pan. Yes, I know we do that with potatoes. But there is no reason to stop there. The reason potatoes brown, is because they contain sugar. The sugar, in effect, turns to caramel, at high temperatures, and that's why you get that sort of "burnt sugar" taste in some good preparations of pan fried potatoes (speaking of which, I haven't made them in a while. Hmmmm). The technique for cooking potatoes is one that you can extend to vegetables in general. Not all of them will work this way, but most will. I will mention the ones that I think of as exceptions, and there aren't many. I have used this technique with fennel (just last night), with endive, with carrots, and also with broccoli and cauliflower. To my taste, the broccoli was the least successful of them, but that's a matter of a palette. The vegetables I think would NOT work with this would be things like b eets, or celery root, or any of the truly "dense" vegetables." Any starchy veggie (including jerusalem artichokes) would work. You could do it with peas, but it would be difficult to pull it off, so I'd suggest just doing peas simply, and browning something else. Green beans work well too.

The technique is very simple. For fennel, for example, cut the vegetable into small pieces that expose a fair amount of surface area. If you have a large fennel bulb, that may be 8 segments. A smaller one could be 6. If the vegetable is one that is fairly porous (like a green bean), you may want to precook it in some salted boiling water for a minute or two. The reason for this is that if you don't, you risk burning the vegetable before it cooks (I'm having a hard time explaining what I mean here, and I apologize for that. Just trust me on the green beans. Do that with broccoli and cauliflower too. You don't need to do it with fennel and shouldn't). For endives, half them or quarter them.

When you have a fair amount of surface area, get a pan hot, with your choice of vegetable oil, olive oil, or butter. Here, you have to make a judgement call. For fennel, for example, I used olive oil, because fennel says "MEDITERRANEAN" to me. For endive, I might use half butter and half olive oil, since it says "Northern Europe" to me. On other vegetables, I could go either way. Cauliflower , butter or olive oil, depending on what else I'm making. Green beans? Hmmm. I always go with olive oil. Just a taste thing I guess. Leafy greens? Depends on the rest of the meal. Broccoli says olive oil to me (and I always add some black olives at the end with some hot pepper).

Now, just put the cut side down on the hot oil and don't crowd the pan . If you're doing a florette type of veggie like broccoli or cauliflower, you may want to split the florettes in half to create more surface area. Don't turn them for a while. Let them cook for, say six minutes. Then turn them, once. Cook the stuff for another four minutes or so, or until you see a nice brown color develop on them.

Now, pour off the fat, add some salt and pepper, and you're done.

Or are you? Depending on the vegetable, you can add different things. Off of the heat, for example, you can add some grated cheese to fennel, but it's not necessary. Perhaps chopped tomatoes or red peppers from a jar, with the green beans. I mentioned olives for broccoli. I think some red pepper with cauliflower is nice. With carrots, I can't think of not using ginger (nor can I think of NOT using butter on them).

These veggies are really easy to make and will serve you well. If you have a starch like baked potatoes, or rice, or as we did last night, baked jerusalem artichokes, you have two lovely side dishes that will go with everything. If you make enough of them, you have the beginnings of lovely pasta sauce. And you will have expanded your taste buds, with something that you have not done before.

Welcome to becoming a better cook. You will.