How to Cook Vegetables: What’s in Your Kitchen?
When cooking fresh vegetables, techniques, and tools are the first two things to consider. In a previous post, Chef Jamie Simpson from the Culinary Vegetable Institute shared vegetable cooking techniques that are ideal for a home kitchen, and in this post, he focuses on recommended tools.
“The goal,” Jamie says, “is to have a functional, versatile, organized home kitchen that includes the tools you need.” Because he favors a minimalistic approach, he doesn’t like single-use tools—that means you’d need to have a lot more of them.
Because so many cooking techniques and recipes involve chopping, he recommends a good cutting board that doesn’t slide around as you use it. While prepping and cooking, he wears a chef’s work shirt and apron and keeps blue shop towels—available from hardware stores—nearby for cleanup.
Next up are a couple of sheet trays of the same size. “If you have ones of differing sizes,” he says, “they won’t stack well. I also keep a box of precut parchment paper that fits the trays within the same reach as the trays themselves. Using them, the trays always stay in nice shape and you can rinse or wipe them off when done.”
Specific cooking tools that he recommends include:
- Carbon blade peeler
- Cake tester
- Offset spatula
- Whisk
- Bowl scraper
- Microplane blade
- Japanese mandoline
- Small paring knife
As far as pots and pans, Jamie suggests having a couple of small saucepots, enameled braising pans, and a big cast iron pan. He keeps the last item on the stove and doesn’t wash it. As needed, he scrapes it out, and if it needs more, he burns it out.
As far as small kitchen appliances, he recommends:
- Juicer
- Dehydrator
- Blender
- Food processor
Here are three more items:
Keep a container of salt within easy reach.
A bain-marie—something that chefs use to keep sauces warm—can be placed by the stove. “I use mine,” he says, “to keep my antique and other out-of-spec spoons that don’t fit in a drawer organized. I use these spoons for stirring, scooping, and tasting.”
Reusable containers are a must. “I have 40 to 50 of them stacked in a drawer. Some are pint-sized, and the others are quart-sized, each using the same-size lid.”
Quality Ingredients
Of course, the best cooking tools and techniques will not produce the most flavorful dishes without quality ingredients. Fortunately, The Chef’s Garden can deliver farm-fresh vegetables directly to your front door.
The entire farm team focuses on providing delicious and nutritious regeneratively farmed products to home cooks. For example, our Best of the Season Box, our farmer’s market delivery box, may contain a mix of fresh lettuce and greens, root crops, potatoes, cruciferous and sweet potatoes, and the best micro greens and herbs. The mix depends upon the season, with seasonal favorites added when available.
With The Chef’s Garden, the agricultural food chain is transparent and easily traceable. Our team hand-harvests exactly what you need, shipping overnight to ensure the freshest, most vibrant, and flavorful produce.
This is The Chef’s Garden’s efficiently shipped Earth to Table® promise, which ensures ultimate freshness, incredible flavor, and prolonged shelf life. Enjoy your veggies!