Tag Archives: seasonal

10 Ways to Dress Up Your Veggies

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Veggies are awesome. I am forever enamored with how many flavors and textures and colors there are to play with. And the fact that the palette changes each season makes me feel like a wide-eyed kid playing nature’s version of Iron Chef.

10-ways-to-dress-up-veggiesBut I can get in a rut with veggies too. I love the uber-simple Alberto’s Grilled Marinated Asparagus so much, for instance, that I make it over and over and over again. But then, that’s not very fun.

So I developed a little arsenal of ways to dress up any vegetable. Use these like shadows and highlights on your ever-changing palette of seasonal veggies to add a bit … more to something that’s already quite lovely. and by all means, mix and match at will.

  • Toasted nuts – Nuts have a lot of things going for them. Their (healthy) fat adds a touch of richness, they have an incredible range of flavor, and then … there’s that crunch. I like to chop or slice them rather than using whole nuts, both because I like the texture better and because it makes a little go a looong way.
  • Cheeses – Gone (I hope) are the days when vegetables had to be covered in a gooey blanket of cheese to be appealing. Fresh seasonal veggies from a CSA, farmers’ market or garden are way too interesting to be covered up like that. But a tiny bit of flavorful, pungent cheese—shredded, shaved or crumbled—is a wonderful addition to almost any veggie.
  • Brown butter – Try these Sautéed Radishes with Mint to see the effect brown butter has on veggies. Just a tad adds luxurious texture and deep, nutty, lip-smacking flavor.
  • Vinegar – Not all flavor additions have to do with fat. Vinegar—and vinaigrettes—brightens veggies even out of the salad bowl. Try our Roasted Beet Wedges with Champagne Vinegar to see how. I also like tossing our Mustard-Shallot Vinaigrette with grilled or roasted veggies.
  • Spices – Simply adding a new spice to a basic dish elevates it to a whole new level. I make roasted broccoli all the time, for instance. Then I pushed the envelope and came up with Roasted Broccoli with Garlic Chips and Spanish Paprika.
  • Citrus zest – Citrus zest packs a surprisingly bright, tangy wallop. A little run of a lemon, lime or orange over a Microplane zester does wonders, especially on richer items like asparagus and potatoes.
  • Soy sauce and miso paste – Both soy sauce and miso paste are umami enhancers, which means they add that voluptuous mouthfeel to the foods. This is especially helpful for vegetables which, for the most part (the big exception being mushrooms), are low on the umami scale.
  • Grated aromatics – I like grating things like garlic, ginger and shallot onto veggies; I find the effect more pungent than simply sautéing them with minced or chopped aromatics. Do beware though: they can burn super-quickly. It’s best to add them in closer to the end of cooking, as I did with our Swiss Chard with Grated Garlic.
  • Honey – Honey truly gilds the lily when it comes to vegetables that have an inherent sweetness to them—like carrots (try our Honey-Ginger Roasted Carrots and you’ll see what I mean). Use it, too, as a semi-sweet counterpoint to salty and sour components like soy sauce and vinegar.

There are my 10 … have any you’d like to share?

Seasonality Out of Season

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It’s all fine and dandy to talk about seasonality in the peak of summer, when tomatoes and eggplant and such are bursting on the vine. It’s another thing entirely to talk about seasonality when your landscape has been white for over a month. What you do when foods you love are out of season?

It goes without saying (but I’m saying it anyway) that “seasonal” and “local” go hand in hand. Seasonal climates are dictated by local geography. If you’re striving to eat seasonally and are buying strawberries in January, for instance, then you’d better be living in Baja California. But there are more options to choose from than you might think, no matter where you live. Here’s how to stay seasonal even during the most challenging times of the year.

Seasonability out of season

Cold-Weather Crops

The first, most obvious step, of eating seasonally is knowing which fresh crops grow when where you live. Leeks, Swiss chard, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale and cauliflower, for instance, grow in cold weather around the country, along with root vegetables like parsnips, celery root and potatoes. In warmer climes, like California and Florida, citrus are in full force (our neighbor’s orange tree tempts me all day long!). And I just found out, surprise surprise, that kiwi grow abundantly well here where I live.

From kale to spinach, get yo’ greens>

Stored Crops

Long before there were refrigerators, there were root cellars; cool, dark subterranean rooms where families stored their late fall and early winter harvest to use throughout the winter. Brussels sprouts, cabbage, late-harvest apples, winter squash and onions store for months, as do root vegetables like carrots, rutabaga, beets and turnips.

Not sure what the heck do with those turnips? Here are 10 ways to cook with root vegetables>

Indoor Crops

Some crops, like tomatoes, need a lot of artificial heat and light to grow during the winter. Others, like lettuce, arugula, mustard and mushrooms, will thrive with a bit of protection and amplified sunlight (which the glass of a greenhouse provides). So a head of butter lettuce might well be locally grown in winter even in upstate New York.

Preserved Crops

You may not think of preserved crops as “seasonal,” but I would argue that they are. In the past, preserves played an important role of spreading the abundance of a bountiful season across a sparser one. Crops preserved in fall and summer are meant to be enjoyed during the cold winter months. Look for locally made sauerkraut, pickles and preserves, as well as dried peppers, beans and mushrooms.

Frozen Crops

The same principle that applies to preserved crops extends to your freezer, if you grow your own fruits and vegetables (or if you buy a boatload at the farmers market). We love using our No Work Slow Roasted Tomatoes (I just made a killer crostini topping with them the other night) clear up until there are fresh ones on the vine again. Corn, peas, cauliflower and berries (like blueberries, blackberries and cranberries) also freeze beautifully.

It’s worth noting that just because a fruit or vegetable is in season near you doesn’t mean that what’s on the grocery store shelves was actually grown nearby. Check labels or, better yet, join a winter CSA. Enterprising farms (yes, even in places like Vermont and Minnesota) combine a mix of all the above to offer an inspiring selection during even the coldest months.

Not sure if a CSA is right for you? Check out our CSA 101 guide>

Fruit of the Day

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Here’s a healthy eating resolution that’s easy to do: Eat at least one piece of seasonal fruit a day. “I’m not much of a fruit person, so I tend to just skip over them,” Lia confesses. “But when I do finally bite into an apple or peel an orange, it makes me feel so grounded and good and vibrant.” I’m in the same boat. Fruit isn’t the first thing I reach for when I’m hungry, and I have to make a point of eating the stuff.

fruit of the day

Lia and I aren’t alone in this challenge. In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a state-by-state analysis of fruit (and vegetable) consumption among American adults. When it comes to fruit, the numbers are dismal: Overall, less than a third of grown-ups eat fruit at least twice a day. Among states, just 18% of Oklahomans eat fruit twice daily while Vermonters and New Yorkers are the most consistent fruit-eaters. But even that doesn’t guarantee adequate consumption. According to the market research firm NPD Group’s Nutrient Intake Database, just 8% of Americans–of all ages–eat their recommended daily intake of fruit.

That means however much fruit you’re eating now, you probably need to eat more. How much is enough? That depends on your age, gender and activity level, and the CDC’s Fruits & Veggies More Matters website has an online calculator. Turns out, I should be nibbling at least 1-1/2 cups of fruit a day (along with 2-1/2 cups of veggies). That’s a modest goal, really, when you consider that a small apple or medium pear counts as 1 cup.

Here are four simple strategies for getting more fruit into your day:

Eat in season. Fruit that’s in season tastes vibrant–and it’s affordable, too, because it’s so abundant. Eating seasonally also helps expand your fruit vocabulary. These days I’m gobbling satsuma tangerines by the flat, but I can also sample other super-seasonal citrus, like the exotic Buddha’s hand. Not sure what to with an unfamiliar fruit? Ask the farmer at the farmers’ market or the produce manager at the store for ideas. Also experiment using seasonal fruits in your favorite recipes–it’s easy to swap fruits and the flavor will be even better. The Cook’s Thesaurus is a helpful resource to research how to use different ingredients.

Keep it sweet. Put fruit front and center in desserts to satisfy a sweet tooth and boost your nutritional profile. This time of year, try Pumpkin Oat Bread with Golden Raisins and Walnuts (yes, pumpkin counts as a fruit) or substitute sliced seasonal kiwi for the strawberries in Lia’s Strawberry Cheesecake Tartlets.

Make it savory. Fruit can lend wonderful nuanced flavor to savory fare, as I was reminded when I dined recently at Ludo Bites, Chef Ludo Lefebvre’s wildly popular Los Angeles pop-up restaurant. My favorite dish was his mussels and pineapple in veloute sauce–the sweetness of the fruit added a subtle, bright note to balance the richness of the dish. Try this sweet-savory strategy in our Fennel and Granny Smith Salad with Blue Cheese or Fennel, Red Onion and Blood Orange Salad with Miso-Orange Vinaigrette. You can use different fruits in spicy salsa (swap pineapple for peach in our Fiery Sweet Peach Salsa) or in a sauce (like our Star Anise and Brown Sugar Pear Butter, below) to pair with roasted pork or chicken.

Discover the range of flavors and textures. Many of us associate fruit with sweetness, but that isn’t always the case. Consider the avocado. It’s a fruit that boasts creamy texture and mellow vegetal flavor. So if you fix a bowl of Guatemalan Guacamole, you’ll enjoy a bonus serving of fruit.