Eat Your Vegetables
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” We know intuitively that these words of advice from Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food make sense and are worth following if we want to eat and live healthier. But can we follow this advice and still enjoy amazing flavors?
Absolutely. And it doesn’t have to be complicated either.
It starts at the market. So much of what we find in supermarkets these days is heavily processed, even stuff that’s advertised as healthy. When he says we should “eat food”, Pollan is suggesting that we should start with things that our great-grandparents would recognize as food, rather than products of more recent food science. As much as possible, we should be shopping in the produce section and at the meat counter, buying fresh, whole, unprocessed foods, and cooking them ourselves.
I’m including the meat counter because I’m a bona fide meat lover and I need the occasional richly crusted bone-in ribeye in my life. That said, eating “mostly plants” is great advice and it doesn’t mean we have to eliminate meat. The idea is to think of meat more as a side dish, another textural and flavor element on a plate that is mostly composed of vegetables. I don’t always follow this advice, but it’s a good idea to keep it in mind for most meals.
What this means is that most of the food we eat should be raw or simply prepared fresh vegetables. If we’re going to get joy from our home cooking, we’d better learn how to make them taste pretty damn good. I’m going to cover two methods today that help me make great food that’s mostly plants.
The Salad Method
Let’s start with salad. We’ve all had boring salads or salads that are drenched with so much creamy store-bought dressing that it’s questionable whether they still qualify as “food”, much less healthy. I follow a few simple guidelines to make salads that are healthy, tasty, and often serve as our entire meal on weeknights.
Mix up your lettuces. Start with an assortment of fresh lettuces. Ideally, you’ve got an accessible farmer’s market and time to wash and prep everything from scratch. If not, spring mix or baby spinach also make a great salad base and are easily available pre-washed and packaged to make prep simple. Arugula is a great addition or main leafy green on its own if you want a really peppery salad. Kale can also work if you take a little time to soften it. Regardless of your starting point, I love to mix in chicories like Belgian endive, radicchio, treviso, and frisée. They add a bitter flavor element and a striking visual contrast to the green leaves of our base.
Add a sweet element. Our vinaigrette is going to be pretty tangy, so I like to add a lightly sweet element to pretty much every salad. This is often halved cherry tomatoes or chunks of juicy sweet heirloom tomatoes, but it could be sweet peppers or fresh or dried fruits. Peaches are a favorite when they’re in season, perhaps lightly grilled.
Add a crunchy element. I usually include one vegetable with a little crunch like thinly sliced red onions or fennel. You could add chunks of carrots or cucumbers, or you could kill two birds with one stone and use apples or pears for crunch and sweetness. I’ll also often add a garnish with some crunch, think pumpkin or sunflower seeds, croutons, or chopped nuts.
Make a punchy vinaigrette. It’s super fast and easy to make great salad dressings and this, more than anything, will transform your salad experience. At its simplest, you just need high-quality extra virgin olive oil, an acid like vinegar or citrus, sea salt, and pepper to make a great dressing. Some common add-ons are minced shallots, dijon mustard, a touch of maple syrup or honey, or chili flakes for a little heat. Start by putting your acid in a small bowl with salt, pepper, and any add-ons, whisk it together, and let sit while you assemble your salad. Just before serving, slowly add extra virgin olive oil while whisking until it’s well combined. A 1:3 or 1:4 ratio of oil to vinegar is a good rule of thumb — the less oil you use the tangier and thinner it will be.
Dress it properly. Put your lettuces and chunks of whatever other sweet and crunchy elements you’re using into a bowl. Pour about two thirds of your dressing around the sides of the bowl rather than dumping it all on top of the middle of the salad. Use one hand to rotate the bowl as you turn the salad with tongs so the leaves are brushing the bottom and sides of the bowl and picking up the dressing evenly. Repeat with the rest of the dressing if needed, but no need to drown it. If you have a little dressing left over, you can keep it in the fridge and replenish next time you make the recipe.
Finish with garnish and optional protein. Now we can give it a little extra pizzazz. Scatter those chopped nuts or seeds we talked about for crunch. Fresh herbs are a good choice for garnish here too. If you want to add some more substance to your salad, crumble, shave, or grate your favorite cheese, or add some smoked salmon or sliced chicken breast.
The Cortland Salad
This is the most basic salad I make regularly at our home on Cortland Ave. It’s enough to be a light meal for two people, and can be made heartier by adding a protein.
Lettuces: Combination of spring mix and arugula, about half a package of each, plus half a head of radicchio (optional)
Sweet: Halved cherry tomatoes (plus some maple syrup in the dressing)
Crunch: Thinly sliced red onions and chopped almonds
Dressing: Sherry-maple-Dijon vinaigrette
Garnish: Chiffonade of basil and chopped almonds
Optional Protein: Sliced chicken breast
Method
Start the vinaigrette. In a small bowl, add a tablespoon of sherry vinegar, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a half teaspoon of maple syrup, a pinch of sea salt, and a dozen grinds of black pepper. Whisk just to combine and set aside while you prep the salad. (Amounts are not precise here, adjust to your liking!)
Prep the lettuces. Put the spring mix and arugula into a large bowl, washing first if they aren’t pre-washed. If you’re adding the radicchio, cut it in half, then cut one half into quarters, cut out any big pieces of core, chop the leaves roughly, and add them to the bowl with the greens.
Prep the sweet and crunchy elements. Wash and cut 8-10 cherry tomatoes in half and add them to the bowl with the greens. Cut off the top of the red onion, slice it in half, remove the peel and any rough outer layers, and thinly slice about half of that — about a quarter of an onion total. Add the sliced onion to the bowl with the greens.
Finish the vinaigrette. Whisk 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into your vinegar, adding the oil slowly and whisking vigorously. Whisk until fully combined, taste, and adjust flavors with salt, pepper, and maple syrup if needed. Whisk in another tablespoon of oil if you want it to be thicker or mellower.
Coat the salad with vinaigrette. Pour two thirds of your vinaigrette around the edge of the salad bowl, then mix with tongs until evenly distributed. Add more of the vinaigrette if needed.
Plate with your tongs. A nice, even, shallow scatter over a large plate will help visually showcase your ingredients and the garnish we’ll put on next.
Add garnishes. Chiffonade a few basil leaves by rolling them together into a cigar shape and slicing them very thinly. Roughly chop a handful of almonds. Scatter both over the plated salads.
Add protein (optional). If using, lay your sliced chicken on top of the salads and drizzle a spoonful of your dressing over it.
Voila, it’s ready to serve!
This is a very adaptable template too: work some baby spinach into the greens, try thinly sliced fennel instead of red onion, use champagne vinegar instead of sherry, mix up your herbs and nuts, or add a garnish of shaved Parmesan or crumbled blue cheese.
The Roasted Veg Method
While salads are an important part of our food rotation at home, the one thing that I’ve seen change the way people think about vegetables most is roasting them. The depth of flavor that comes from caramelizing root vegetables is incredible. It only takes olive oil, sea salt, and pepper to enhance their flavors and make for a memorable dish. You can go further of course with herbs and spices but remember to keep it simple!
Pick out the best looking veg you see at the market. This is crucial. Be willing to change up your dinner plans if the veg you were hoping to make looks mediocre. You can apply this technique to all kinds of vegetables — root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and beets; winter squash like butternut and delicata; brassicas like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts; onions, asparagus, eggplant, fennel, the list goes on.
Prep whatever vegetables you’re using into similar sizes with plenty of surface area. You can use this method on a single vegetable or you can make a medley. If doing the latter, just make sure you cut your veg into similarly sized chunks so they cook pretty evenly and you don’t end up with pieces that are way over or under cooked. Use roll cuts and wedge cuts to achieve uniform thickness and maximize surface area for caramelization.
Toss with olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper. Put your veg in a large bowl and drizzle over plenty of olive oil. Sprinkle it with sea salt and grind black pepper over it. Toss it all together with your hands until every piece is well coated. Note that salt selection is important. I use diamond kosher salt to season meats, but I always have flaky Maldon sea salt on hand for finishing dishes and I usually use it for seasoning vegetables too.
Spread on a baking sheet. Tip the vegetables out of the bowl and spread them evenly on a baking sheet with parchment pepper. Make sure it’s not too crowded or the veg won’t brown as well. Use a second sheet pan if needed.
Roast in a 400-450 degree oven. You want the oven hot enough to caramelize the veg so it needs to be safely over 350, and sometimes could go as high as 450 if you really want to get a nice char. 425 is a pretty safe place to start. How long you roast depends on the type and size of veg, ranging from 15 minutes for asparagus to about 40 minutes for harder veg like beets or carrots.
Roasted Root Vegetable Medley
This dish brings a nice variety of colors and flavors to the plate, with a really simple preparation. I’m a big fan of golden beets but red will work just fine here too, as will pretty much any other root vegetable like parsnips or potatoes. Fill a plate with this medley and nestle a small piece of roast chicken or pork tenderloin beside it for a great “mostly plants” meal.
Vegetables: Beets, carrots, red onion, and fennel
Seasoning: Extra virgin olive oil, flaky sea salt, ground black pepper, thyme
Roast: 425 degrees for 40 minutes
Garnish: Fresh parsley, lemon, extra virgin olive oil (optional)
Method
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees
Prep the vegetables. Trim, wash, and dry everything. We’re not steaming our vegetables so don’t leave them dripping with water! Roll cut the carrots and cut the onion, beets, and fennel into wedges with a similar thickness. Put all the vegetables in a big bowl.
Season the vegetables. Drizzle with olive oil, add a couple good pinches of flaky sea salt, 20-30 grinds of black pepper, and the leaves picked from a few thyme sprigs. Toss with your hands until well coated and turn out onto a parchment covered baking sheet, or two if it’s crowded.
Roast the vegetables. Put the sheet pan in the oven for 35-45 minutes. Take them out and toss them at around the 20 minute mark, and start checking for doneness around the 35 minute mark. You should be able to slide a paring knife or a fork through the veg at their thickest points, and see some really nice browning all over. Grab a piece, give it a taste, and adjust seasoning with sea salt and pepper if you like.
Garnish and plate. Remove the vegetables from the oven and plate. Finish with a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of olive oil, and a pinch of fresh chopped parsley.
Even for an avowed carnivore like me, salads and roasted vegetables are truly the workhorses of my diet and my kitchen. Making them well means I’ve got a healthy and tasty foundation for every meal, whether the vegetables end up being all or just most of the plate. I hope these methods and simple recipes help you get started making amazing vegetable dishes at home too, and I’d love to hear from you in the comments if you try them out!