Do the vegetables in Bolannaise ‘count’ ?

[FollowYourOwnNorthStar]

I’ve been trying to make a conscious effort to get more vegetables into my day, and one way has been adding more vegetables to stews and things like bolannaise.

Leave aside what exactly should go in a bolannaise sauce (another recent thread!) the vegetables I put in are grated onions, carrots and zucchini, then chopped garlic, baby spinach leaves, mushrooms and any tomatoes if I have them (always used tinned tomatoes too).

In doing so I reduce the mince/meat required for each person, so from a health perspective I thought I was making the meal healthy twice - less meat per serve and more vegetables. (It tastes delicious too!)

However my sister thinks that vegetables like this don’t ‘count’. That by grating and cooking them down so much, their nutritional value is pretty low and, whilst still an ok healthy meal, it’s not as good as I think.

I’ve tried to google the answer, but opinions are divided about eating vegetables cooked or raw with a case made for both sides or in favour of some but not others.

What does everyone else think?

This thread has me wondering actually, do MNHQ actually read the reported posts? Did they just delete Bertrands post because it was reported?

Quick - someone report this post and let’s see if it gets deleted!

Now. About cooking eggplant....

Cook it for at least twice as long as you think you might need to. And then some more. It’s pretty much the only vegetable I can think of that benefits from an approach akin to my granny’s approach to sprouts (although, without the boiling aspect).

I always slow roast first.
I make a fabulous Baba Ganush!

I like to grill the buggers to death to get a nice chargrill on the skin for a baba ganush. I once tried the method of charring them using the flame on a gas hob, but it’s so bloody messy compared to grilling them.

Mostly though, I like to deep fry them and then cook them into whatever sauce I’m doing. There a great Chinese black bean aubergine (or eggplant, since I don’t care what we call them) dish that I make when I can find the right jar of fermented black beans in the world food aisle of Tesco.

I once tried the method of charring them using the flame on a gas hob, but it’s so bloody messy compared to grilling them
My nan used to do that with peppers and tomatoes. I tried it once. I havent bothered since.
Eggplant, aubergines, Calabazas, whatever, in a light crispy batter dipped in a garlic sauce is fabulous!

And, in relation to the sub-theme of this thread: I agree that English speakers of the uk have a weird relationship with the various forms of part tense.

But even that varies regionally. I this region people seem to substitute went for gone. For example: ‘it has went wrong’. They’ve also invented a completely different conjugation of the verb ‘to treat’: ‘tret’ rather than treated. For example, ‘the dog was tret badly’. I regularly see both in writing (usually spelt either trett or treat).

I do tell my kids off for ‘has went’.

Eggplant, aubergines, Calabazas, whatever, in a light crispy batter dipped in a garlic sauce is fabulous!

I didn’t realise that I liked aubergine until I was about 35. All those years I’d been missing out.