Ways to cook nice veg

[rainydogday]

I need to increase my veg intake! Does anyone have some tips or can point me in the direction of some recipes. Bored of steamed veg! I have made asparagus and purple sprouting broccoli with cumin in a pan which was lovely. Need green veg cooking ideas. Thanks!

I think roasting it in the oven is always good, I make a couple of trays of Mediterranean veg every week.

lots of recipes on BBC good food and there’s also a series of cook books called the roasting pan. Look up tray bake meals - you can do it all in one.

Leeks sauté really quickly.

The French have some good ideas for veg. I like creamed spinach. Not much that can't be improved by garlic, cream and butter!

Roast broccoli with a little olive oil, salt and pepper-delicious.

I like sprouts cut in half and fried with some sliced bacon until they go a bit brown. I also agree with roasting veg, especially cauliflower and brocolli.

We like courgettes sliced with the potato peeler then stirfried with chilli, garlic and soy and finished with lime.

Here's a nice way of doing broccoli.

Frying pan, oil, hot.
Chop broccoli, put in pan.
Pour on half a cup of water.
Add soy sauce, good amount.
Add honey from a spoon.
Pepper.
Sometimes I add in halved cherry tomatoes.
And some chili flakes.

Takes about ten minutes to cook.

Sprouts lightly boiled, with fried lardons.
Cauliflower cheese
Parsnip and carrot mash
Potatoes dauphinoise
Creamy mushrooms
Minted peas

Instead of thinking 'how can I spruce up veg to sit on the side of the plate' - which gets dull very quick, try and eat more wholly veggie food. One Pot, Pan, Planet is a brilliant book, as is the Green Roasting Tray veg book.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/saagaloooshepherdspiee00935 - this is da bomb, from One Pot

www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/diana-henrys-butter-roast-aubergines/ - this Diana Henry recipe is from her Oven to Table book, make it all the time but tend to just use those microwave pouches of grains rather than trying to find freekeh.

We have things like bean burgers (whizz up a couple of cans of beans, any kind, with spices, jalapeños and coriander, beat in an egg and some panko) or veg fajitas on weekly rotation.

I love cauliflower at the moment. I like to break into florets and microwave it for 2 minutes just so it softens slightly then either put in an oven proof dish and top with breadcrumbs and crumbled Stilton then bake,the same works really well with leeks. Or, put the slightly softened florets on a baking tray and sprinkle over some cumin, turmeric and Nigella seeds, spray with oil and bake in a hot oven.

The easiest way to up your veg intake is to make the veg the main part of a meal not a side. Vegetable curries, chilli's, stuffed mushrooms, root veg crumble, cauliflower cheese etc.

Roasted veg with couscous and feta

Roasted tomatoes with fried chorizo on pasta with burrata

Fry sliced courgettes in olive.oil. add garlic, chilli and lemon zest and serve on pasta. You can add cheese of choice.

Stuffed peppers

Stuffed mushrooms

Butternut or pea risotto

Warm Roasted butternut and spinach salad with walnuts, blue cheese and lemon/honey dressing.

We do greens like brocooli, leeks, etc chargrilled in a pan. Make a sauce/dressing with garlic, lemon juice and honey in the pan.

Green beans or tenderstem brocoli with a tahini and yoghurt dressing. Add a few nigella deeds or flaked chilli

These all sound so delicious! Going to try the cauliflower and Stilton first! Love the sound like of the butternut squash with walnuts too

Sprouts halved and roasted with olive oil salt and balsamic vinegar. Really nice!

I love all these types of recipes but it does annoy me that virtually the nicest way to eat veg is to add extra calories to it which is a shame

I love roasted veg but am trying to reduce use of the oven as its electric, it also requires a little bit of oil.

Roasted.anything roasted.on the tray must be onion and garlic too though.
Sauteed in a pan with garlic.
Cauliflower brovoli and green beans are so good in Currys.
Gratins or cauliflower cheese
Whole roasted cauliflower with Moroccan spices
Cabbage or cauliflower steaks.are amazing.
Things like courgette go great in mince.lasagne,spag etc
Mashed carrot makes a different side dish.
Stew and casseroles this time of year.

I get most of my veg by batch cooking things like spag Bol, chilli, tomato chicken etc. You throw in things like onions, garlic, mushrooms, peppers, celery and tinned tomatoes. As long as you give it long enough to mush down it will taste nice and that way your not throwing lots of nice calorie foods in to make it taste nice.

Roast a huge tray of veg in olive oil with s and p , then blend with a tin of tomatoes. Serve as a sauce over pasta or chicken .
Pumpkin soup ( really nice made with with a thai curry paste and coconut milk)
Stir fry veg ( onion garlic ginger carrot zucchini snow peas mushrooms capsicum etc) with hoisin and soy as the flavouring. Have with a steak or whatever you like.
Agree with roasting cauliflower and brocolli. I sprinkle mine with parmesan - can do in airfryer .
Home made pizza with mostly veg topping ( tinned super sweet corn kernels are surprisingly yummy on pizza.

Well, yes, that's true. But that's true of anything. Additional flavour often comes with additional ingredients, and therefore additional calories. Plain steamed carrots have very few calories but most people would agree that they're a bit boring.

I would still argue that adding some oil or similar to a vegetable is healthy and low calorie because it's still less than doing the same to a piece of meat, chicken or fish.

Or invest in an air fryer - you can roast vegetables in there with very little oil.

I like kale fried with lemon garlic and salt.
Courgettes done similarly.
Green beans tossed in garlic butter.

What SpaceOP said. Veggies have hardly any fat compared to meat so if most of what you’re eating is veg it’s fine to add a bit more oil or butter.

Eating more Indian food can boost veg intake in a most delicious way. You can make amazing curries and sabzis from cheap root veg like carrots, turnips and potatoes.

I dont disagree at all, its just that Im on a very low calorie diet so one tablespoon of oil for example is 120 cals and most people who drizzle some oil on are glugging far more than that. And even then I cant afford to put over a hundred calories (even if I stuck to just one tablespoon) on my veg.

Fair enough, but for example the Vitamin A in carrots is fat soluble so you do need some fat in your diet so you can absorb the vitamins.

If you are doing ultra low fat then quick pickles might be another way of pepping up veg. Celeriac and carrot salad (grated) with vinegar and chilli, etc.

Oh no Im not doing low fat at all, Im doing high protein and I dont worry about the fat, its about the calories. But in the protein of course there is plenty of fat. I dont want to waste calories on other additions.

Shame, as I love roasted and fried veg!

I think the reality is that if you are on a very strict calorie controlled diet, there's a fairly high chance your food will be less interesting and satisfying. That's just a fact unfortunately.

Having said that, @bellac11 , lemon juice, greek-style yoghurt and fresh herbs/spices make surprisingly good, and low calorie, dressings for salads and vegetables.

Also, I reiterate the air fryer advice. I still use oil if I roast veg in the air fryer but SIL just does a quick spritz with low calorie oil spray and hers come out fine. Add chilli and garlic for stronger flavours.

Peppers roasted over open flame with no additional oil add a lovely smokey flavour, enjoyed on their own or chop them and add to a salad made with tomatoes and parsley and salt. A little sprinkle of sherry or red wine vinegar would be even better, but if you're that strict on calories, you might not be able to use it.

Whole garlic bulbs can be roasted without oil and the garlic squeezed out as a paste and mixed with other veg or into dressing like the ones I mentioned above for extra flavour.

Oh absolutely, although I find my way round it with all the bits you mention. I chuck tons of stuff on things

Its just a shame that my ideal way to have veg is with liberal butter really.

Ive just had a load of carrot and swede mash, with lots of garlicky guacamole and Im adept at 'frying' veg without oil so that you get a sort of char grilled appearance although you have to be careful. I also use the pan that Ive cooked any meat in to use the juices.