Marilyn Haggerty's amazing Olive Garden review and the subsequent viral shitstorm

xpost LOL phil

yeah Tracer I def find the collapsibles better for 'steamed veg for one' or a small amount of steamed veg for 2 people. double boiler is the best for large amount of veg, it's a good workhorse.

I've never really gotten down with bamboo steamers.

Also good for dim sum!

I've got a silicon gadget thing that goes inside your saucepan so you can steam things through it. Like the colander but purpose designed and therefore safe.

"i was going to drive to my friend's house and crashed my car into a tree and sat there in the wreckage, but i didn't seem to ever arrive at my friend's house. CONFUSING"

still lol'ing at this

you can steam veg in the microwave. Like, carrots for example: put them in a microwave safe bowl, with a tablespoon of water. Cover with cling wrap or w/e. cook on high for 4 min (you may need to add another minute or two depending on your microwave.)

You can also steam some veg in the microwave - asparagus is particularly suited to this - by wrapping the trimmed asparagus in a wet paper towel and microwaving it for 2 to 4 minutes, depending on your preference/microwave.

once I roasted my asparagus I could not for the life of me understand why I had ever steamed it

xpost I've never tried that. Nice!

you know the only vegetable i steam is red chard

i feel like steaming tends to kill the flavor, color and nutritional value of foods

only if you steam them for too long!

I can't think of anything worse, texture-wise, than steamed chard.

I'll steam veggies sometimes before putting them in something else (curries mostly) but never really just eat steamed veggies by themselves. a bit boring.

chard requires smothering

and some kind of animal fat

yeah to me chard needs some braising, or blanching at the very least pre-sauteeing to get the metallic taste out of the leaves.

when i steam chard it turns out like gently wilted spinach leaves

i actually "braise it in reverse", meaning i steam it first and then add the oil, as opposed to cooking in oil and then adding liquid to steam

also that "metallic taste" is the antioxidants! you *want* that metallic taste (or at least i do)

that doesn't sound right

chards taste metallic

I actually sometimes pre-steam for a few minutes and then sautee

I do the opposite. I wilt or soften whatever veg in my wok and then I add some stock to finish it. It doesn't require much oil, if any, 'cause the wok retains enough from being used so much and so often.

I used to always blanch chard and then sautee, and lately I've just been lightly sauteeing it and then adding stock and covering it for a few minutes, it seems to remove the metallic tast/antioxidants/whatever

yeah my steez is: 1) blanch, 2) sautee, covered, over low heat with a little oil/bacon fat/whatever. delish.

like Hurting, for stuff like sweet potatoes i steam the pieces first, then sautee

Craving Thanksgiving dinner right now.

hmm. steam sweet potato then sautee? I will try that. I have yet to find a way to cook sweet potatoes that I like.

anyway it looks like we've turned this into I Love Cooking, lol

http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/marilyn-hagerty-s-olive-garden-review-a-million-clicks/233356/

Sweet potatoes (like asparagus) are also great roasted.

see my problem with sweet potatoes is I like them best when they've been fried (sweet potato fries yum!) and all the other ways I try to cook them don't make them taste like THAT.

chards taste metallic

― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Friday, March 16, 2012 4:45 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

<3

If you cut the sweet potatoes into fry-shaped pieces and toss them in olive oil and salt before roasting them, they come out quite similar to sweet potato fries.

(Though with roasting it's a fine line between crispy and burnt, so you have to keep an eye on them and try to cut them into pretty evenly-sized pieces so they cook at the same rate.)

yeah they go from roasty to burned pretty damn quick

If you cut the sweet potatoes into fry-shaped pieces and toss them in olive oil and salt before roasting them, they come out quite similar to sweet potato fries.

coating them in an egg-wash is also helpful for this method

I also note with chard that I usually carve out a good part of the bottom part of the stem and cook them separately since they don't cook at the same speed as the leaf.

yeah, carve out the stem and chop it up is key with chard

actually come to think of it what I usually do with chard is sautee then braise in a little stock. steam-then-sautee is something I more do with tougher leafy greens.

I wonder if sometimes people are steaming when they should be blanching.

i wonder that all the time, walking down the street

ppl are always blanching when they should be sophiaing

I wonder if sometimes people are steaming when they should be blanching.

― (he did what!) (Austerity Ponies), Friday, March 16, 2012 1:47 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Rush Limbaugh most of the time

No one wants to maintain the texture, color, and flavor of Rush Limbaugh.

i blanch kale and collards, and then sautee because they are so fucking tough

i steam chard because it has a more delicate texture and doesn't seem to need blanching

i am *really* into bitter greens though

I love undercooked kale with lemon juice

this is how i do one bunch of chard:

take a small pot and put a bare amount of water at the bottom, like 1/4" or something

put a glass lid on it and heat until the water is just boiling

open it up, throw big handfuls of stemmed and coarsely chopped chard into the pot and put the lid back on

open it back up 2-5 minutes later when the chard has wilted but is still bright green / red / rainbow

throw it in another pot w/ chopped garlic and possibly chopped red onions, add one tbs olive oil and sautee very quickly on high heat just until the garlic is golden and the onions are sweating

take off heat, add a dash of vinegar or lemon, sprinkle on coarse sea salt, and eat

yum

the only difference when i do kale is that i blanch it in salted boiling water for 3-5 minutes and usually skip the salt at the end, add fresh ground pepper instead

sometimes maybe i mix the vinegar or lemon w/ a small amount of mustard

man you just boil the fuck out of some ham hocks and you throw some greens in there and simmer half a day and then you sprinkle a little vinegar on those shits

chard with currants and pinenuts is also really good

yeah austerity's on the money with hamhocks. yuuuuum.

with kale I tend to braise it. sautee onions and red pepper flakes in a decent amount of olive oil, add kale and sautee a bit more, and then cover with 4-5 cups of water, bring to the boil and then simmer for about 20-30 mins. it's really good.

"austerity's on the money with hamhocks" is a weird phrase