Ok so really funny timing to do a LOW COOK series…. but I’ve been getting some requests this week to share some cooked veggie sides because of the cyclospora outbreak.
Do what you will with your veggies but in case you’re looking for some ways to cook instead of eating them raw, I’ve got you covered!
15 minute charred broccolini with jammy shallots
serves 2 | 15 minutes
Broccolini gets deeply charred in a hot pan, then tossed with shallots that have gone soft and jammy in balsamic, maple, and dijon. Finish with lemon, black pepper, and a stupid amount of pecorino. 15 minutes, one pan, done.
hot honey butter zucchini over creamy feta
serves 4-6 | 30 minutes
Zucchini gets seared until golden, tossed in browned butter, hot honey, and a splash of white wine vinegar, then dumped over whipped feta-labneh. Sweet, tangy, a little spicy, and somehow still very much a vegetable.
15 minute tangy mustard green beans
serves 4 | 15 minutes
Green beans tossed in a butter-dijon-lemon sauce and topped with lemony panko for crunch. Just as good at room temp, so it’s the one dish you don’t have to stress about timing.
parm crusted brussels sprouts with spicy lemon aioil
serves 4-6 | 30 minutes
Sprouts get roasted cut-side-down directly on a bed of parmesan until the cheese goes deep golden and crispy, then get dunked in a spicy, caesar-ish aioli. This has converted actual brussels sprout haters. No notes.
pea and goat cheese fritters
makes 10 fritters | 30-45 minutes
Fresh peas and shredded zucchini folded into a goat cheese batter and fried until deeply golden. Serve with a lemony skyr dip, and don’t skip the cold crumbled goat cheese mixed in, that’s the whole point.
grilled carrots with dilly feta sauce
serves 4 | 30 minutes
Carrots get blanched in vinegar water first so the seasoning actually penetrates, then charred on the grill and served over a garlicky dill-feta sauce. Great hot, great at room temp, hard to mess up.
rosemary fried eggplant
serves 4 | 60 minutes
Thin eggplant rounds get salted, dipped in a vodka batter (yes, vodka to keep things crisp), and fried fast and hot. Finish with fried rosemary and a drizzle of honey.
romesco-ish green beans
serves 2 | 20 minutes
Green beans get charred hard in a screaming hot pan, then tossed in a quick smoky red-pepper-tomato sauce and topped with toasted almonds. 20 minutes, one pan, way more than the sum of its parts.
beet and whipped goat cheese salad with warm za’atar dressing
serves 3-4 | 10 minutes plus 1 hour roasting
Beets get roasted until fork-tender, then layered over whipped goat cheese with a warm, sizzled za’atar oil poured right over top. The second that warm dressing hits the cold cheese is the whole moment.
parmesan crusted cabbage with tahini sauce
serves 4 | 1 hour (15 minutes for prep)
Cabbage wedges roast until tender and charred at the edges, then get an actual skirt of parmesan melted onto them before going back in the oven. A garlicky tahini sauce ties the whole thing together.
crispy rice paper spring rolls
makes 12 rolls | 30 minutes
Everything inside gets cooked down first: cabbage, carrot, mushroom, tofu, all sautéed until soft and saucy, then wrapped in a double layer of rice paper and pan-fried until crackly. Zero raw filling, all crunch.
arugula orzo with peppery umami breadcrumbs
serves 2 | 30 minutes
The arugula gets blanched and blended into a bright green sauce, so no raw greens here either. It’s tossed with orzo, dolloped with ricotta, and finished with anchovy breadcrumbs that taste nothing like anchovies, I promise!
caramelized radish and miso pasta with crisp garlic
serves 2-3 | 30 minutes
Radishes get slow-cooked in butter until they caramelize into something almost sweet, then tossed with a miso-parmesan pasta sauce and topped with shatteringly crisp fried garlic.
That’s 13 ways to get your vegetables in without touching a raw salad this week, so bookmark this one and send it to whoever is asking “is lettuce safe right now?”
Got a cooked veggie side you think deserves a spot on this list? Drop it in the comments.
I want to make them all. Like tonight!
These look ahhmazing!!! Thank you!