Some new vegetable side dishes please!

[Aworryingtrend]

I'm eating a lot of meat with vegetables at the moment and need to ring the changes! i just tend to steam/roast/strir fry veg at the moment but I'd really like to make something more of it.

Id also like to try new veg- my staples are brocolli, cauli, carrots, mange tout and babycorn.

I would like to try things like celeriac (tried once but Im sure I did it wrong), cabbage, spring greens and other exciting veg but I'm not sure where to start!

Any help much appreciated

Fry one red onion, add one diced eating apple, shredded red cabbage and a bit of water, salt and pepper (a drop of vinegar if you like). Trick it to get it to cook down to not much liquid without over cooking it. Nice with pork.

Celeriac can basically be used in the same way as potato, and prepared the same way too.
Just peel, chop and boil until soft, kinda tastes like a cross between potato and celery but apparently has less calories than potato so even better if on a diet!
You can mash it, use as a topping for fish pie, shepherd's pie, put chunks in a stew and so on.
If you're not sure if you'll like it you can easily mix it with potato and a bit of cheese to disguise the celery taste (kids like this!)You can even do the same thing mixing cauliflower and potato to try and get some extra veggies in.
Any soft green veggies like spring greens, spinach, pak choi, etc are really nice steamed with some garlic, chilli and soy sauce. Steaming is a really great way to cook veg, it preserves the colour, nutrients and stops them from going all soft and squishy.
Courgettes are another good one to try, I add them to pretty much everything now even though I used to hate them but have discovered they are a really good absorber of flavour, especially if you chop them up and cook them with something like smoked bacon, they suck up all the juice and taste lovely!
Leeks can be added to all sorts of stuff too, and are nice on their own cooked in butter and a tiny bit of cream :)

I cube up and aubergine, courgette, mushrooms and onion - whack into an ovenproof dish, cover with a tin of chopped tomatoes (may also need puree depending on taste) and pour over half a cupful of boiling water with a teaspoon of bovril dissolved in. cook in oven for about 1 1/2 hours - last 1/2 hour top with grated cheese.

Sautee savoy in loads of butter and chuck in plenty of carraway seeds - my favourite (nice with bacon lardons too)

Also carrots are nice cooked in a foil parcel with a dash of white wine a blob of butter and some ground corriander.

Carrots again, cut into batons, put in a shallow pan add a blob of butter, sprinkle of sugar and just cover with water, simmer until water goes (keep an eye on them though)

Celeriac's good with mashed potato and a peeled, unchopped garlic clove (2" chunks boiling for same times as pots, then mashed - better 'mashing' with electric whisk to get it fine; butter, milk)

Roasted veg - butternut squash (just peel and cube), red onion (large chunks), unpeeled garlic, rosemary, olive oil to smother (can also used cubed celeriac and parsnips, or red/yellow peppers) - 200C for 45min.

Supermarket Bag of Spinach (check its pre-washed) - pierce couple of holes in bag, nuke for 1-2min, open bag and plonk in a wodge of butter, salt and pepper. Jiggle bag around and serve.

Mashed swede and carrots. Vaguely overboil carrots and swede so soft. mash with lots of butter and pepper.

Curly kale nice too - just steam. Strong irony taste.

Buttered leeks. Fry leeks slowly in butter until just soft.

Leek and mushroom bake - Fry chopped leeks and mushrooms until soft, add glass of wine, simmer down to 2/3 less volume, put veg in ovenproof dish, add good portion of gruyere and covering of breadcrumbs - 200C 30min.

Spring veg gratin - Boil/steam different veg (whatever takes your fancy - carrots, parsnip, cauli, broc) until just cooked, cover with tub of creme fraiche with tbsp of wholegrain mustard and 2 handfuls of gruyere. Bake 200C 30min.

Savoy cabbage - steam/boil. In frying pan fry off some pancetta and garlic. Once cabbage cooked mix all together.

Roasted Beetroot - (fresh not pickled) - no need to peel, just quarter or half put in foil 'bag' with splash of balsalmic vinegar and olive oil - in oven 200C think its 30-40min. Its a Jamie recipe - might be able to google.

JO also does lots of flavoured butters for veg - like orange, cumin and oregano for carrots, panfried chestnuts, garlic and pancetta for brussels, garlic, lemon and parsley, etc. etc.

Good thing about that is you can put do various different butters of different flavours, wrap them in a sausage of cling film or greaseproof paper, shove in fridge to harden up, cut into disks and then freeze - then just take one out when you want to shove it over your veg.

Am loving spinach & garlic at the moment. Fry a clove of finely chopped garlic in a little butter & splash of olive oil in a wok with lid. Chuck in 1/2 bag spinach put on lid until spinach wilts, stir occationally. Add sea salt, black peppar & a little nutmeg. Delicious

Take two or three egg whites, whisk with a few tablespoons milk, your fave seasonings (black pepper, garlic, savoury, nutmeg, etc). Mix in cooked spinach and a little grated cheese. Bake in a shallow dish til firm. This is the only way my kids will eat spinach.

Wedge up a small, cored cabbage and place in slow cooker. Optional: add some wedged red potatoes and/ or garlic cloves. Toss with 4 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook on high 3 hours or low 5-6. This is the food of the gods, and you will embarrass yourself by eating half of it before it makes it to the dinner table.

Toss broccoli with 3 parts sesame oil, 1 part honey, and 2 teaspoons sesame seeds. Roast 20 minutes.

Warm leftover chicken fat, or butter with 3 tablespoons curry powder. Coat cauliflower florets well, then roast 25 minutes.

Wow, these ideas are so inspiring and really putting my usual option of boiled cauliflower to shame! Thanks everyone, I've printed the thread and will definitely be putting these into practise!

MaryMungo, for your Food of the Gods cabbage, what type of cabbage should I use? A savoy (thats the wrinkly green one?), a white one or is there another kind?

TIA

They both work. If you use savoy, halve it and cut it into 1.5-2 inch thick slices.