Resolution: Eat More Veggies
New year, new healthy eating resolutions. If you’re looking to get more vegetables onto the table, Chez Panisse chef Cal Peternell has the simplest way to cook them. Below, we share an excerpt from his cookbook Twelve Recipes.
Photograph: Ed Anderson
Though a recipe for boiled vegetables works for nearly any vegetable, when a wise friend advised against it, I chose cauliflower as my subject—not merely to be contrary, but because I suspected that the message motivating that advice was that no one likes boiled cauliflower. This I knew to be untrue in general, but since perhaps accurate when applied to children, I had avoided trying to serve cauliflower to my family. When I would, it was well roasted in a hot oven or sautéed with garlic and Parmesan. I added pine nuts and currants, curry and cilantro, until one day I didn’t: a farmer had given me some small perfect heads, no bigger than softballs, pure white and still wrapped in their pale green paisley-shaped leaves. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than quarter them and boil them, leaves and all, in salted water. Olive oil, a sprinkling more salt, and as we ate them, my son asked, smiling, swallowing, “Have we ever had this before? We should always have it like this.”
You may not have farmer friends who are hooking you up with perfect vegetables, but maybe you have a garden yourself or an excellent local market. Either way, at some point, if you are paying attention, there will come along that vegetable that is so clean, so flawless, that you’ll know you need only put a pot of water on to boil, adding nothing but a dose of salt. You’ll reach for that tiny turnip or cute carrot and it will look up at you and with pale, dewy eyes, ask, “Is my bath ready?”
Photograph: Ed Anderson
1 beautifully fresh cauliflower head, preferably organic, probably from a farm near you
Salt
Butter or olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Cut the cauliflower into florets and taste a little piece raw to make sure that it’s all you thought it would be. If not, it’s not too late to cook it another way—roasted or in soup? If it’s boil-worthy, bring a generous pot of water to a rolling boil and add salt. Taste the water and add more salt until it tastes not like seawater but on its way there—brackish. Drop the cauliflower into the pot. Scoop out a piece after a few minutes and taste for tenderness. When done, after about 4 minutes, scoop out the rest of them, place in a bowl, and dress with the butter or olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Substitute the sweetest, freshest broccoli, turnips, green beans, snap peas, carrots, celery, fennel, leeks, kale, chard, Brussels sprouts, or asparagus for the cauliflower. Little potatoes are good for boiling too, though they take longer. Slip a thin-bladed knife into one to test for tenderness—it should meet little resistance at about 20 minutes for a Ping-Pong-ball-size spud.
More from Cal Peternell:
Why you should buy his book, Twelve Recipes
