How to Easily Use Almost Any Vegetable

We tend to overcomplicate vegetables. A lot of that stems from years of eating mediocre produce - grocery store vegetables often need a lot of help to taste like much of anything. That’s why people reach for rich sauces and heavy seasonings.

Here’s the thing: as you start eating better vegetables, you’ll find you don’t need much to make them taste really good. What they’re often lacking for a modern palate is just fat and salt. The methods I recommend here are built around that simple idea.

This might sound too simple, but most vegetables you can just cut into bite-size chunks and snack on them. Many carry enough flavor on their own - a cherry tomato doesn’t need anything else.

For others, you might want a dip. This brings us back to what vegetables often need: salt and fat. I’m obsessed with:

• Carrots and ranch dressing
• Kohlrabi and hummus
• Celery and tahini
• Tomatoes and olive oil

These are all just raw vegetables with a dip or dressing.

The composed version of this is a salad - raw vegetables with a dressing. And what’s in most dressings? Fat for richness, salt for seasoning, and acid (usually vinegar) to punch things up.

This method changed how I think about vegetables. I learned it from Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune in New York - her celery hearts were one of the transformative dishes of my life.

The idea is simple:

1. Boil the vegetable in salty water until it has the texture you want
2. Shock it in cold water to stop the cooking - this is what turns boiling into blanching
3. Drain well, then slather in good olive oil

That’s it. The result is absolutely divine.

The boiling can be anywhere from 10 seconds to a few minutes depending on the vegetable. The best way to tell if it’s done? Try it. Is the texture pleasant to eat? If not, keep going. It really is that simple.

There’s probably no vegetable I wouldn’t eat this way. Tomato? Great. Lettuce? Surprisingly good. Celery hearts, zucchini, snap peas - all fantastic.

It shines most on vegetables that need textural help. Tender young summer squash doesn’t really need it - you might just leave those raw with olive oil and salt.

Why Salty Water?

It makes the salt flavor go all the way through the vegetable, not just on the surface.

Why Blanch?

The cold water shock stops the cooking instantly, giving you precise control over texture. These are two tools you can keep in your back pocket for perfection.

Roasting changes both texture and flavor. High heat brings out complex flavors you don’t get otherwise - especially that caramelization where natural sugars become something richer and more savory.

This works especially well for naturally sweet vegetables: carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, beets, broccoli, tomatoes.

The Lazy Roasting Method

Unlike other preparations, you don’t have to be fancy. You can roast entire vegetables - it just takes longer. A thick beet or whole squash can take over an hour, but you saved all that prep time.

Here’s the thing about vegetables: the time is often in prep. It’s easy to throw a big chunk of meat in the oven without much work, but vegetables usually need peeling, breaking down, cutting to size. Roasting whole sidesteps all of that. Just give them a rinse to get off any dirt and you’re good to go. Some people find peels unattractive in texture or flavor, and that’s fine - but know it takes more time.

When I roast squash in the fall, I often just:

1. Cut it in half
2. Slather in olive oil and salt
3. Put it in the oven

Or roast it plain and add the oil and salt after. Or skip them entirely if it doesn’t need it.

That’s It. Three Methods.

Raw. Blanched. Roasted.

If you only have these three tools in your belt, I guarantee you can make amazing food all year. Anything beyond this is just icing on the cake - or should I say, dressing on the veg.