- 6 minutes ago
Chef Hillary Sterling shares her restaurant techniques for cooking better vegetables. Learn how to cook restaurant-quality vegetables at home, from salt-baked zucchini and eggplant to garlicky sautéed spinach, olive oil-poached artichokes, and perfectly blanched asparagus, broccoli, and peas. These professional cooking tips improve flavor, texture, color, and more, making vegetables the star of the show.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:01People just don't know how to do vegetables. I love to cook vegetables and
00:05I'm here to show you how to cook vegetables in a way that might blow your
00:08mind but also great tips that we do at restaurants that people at home don't
00:12know. I'm Hilary Sterling and this is how I cook restaurant quality vegetables.
00:23So I came up with this idea because I wanted to cook zucchini and eggplant in
00:27a different way that I ever have before. We can always saute and sear and
00:31smoke and poach and you know I even confit and chicken fat sometimes but I
00:35kept seeing salt baked fish everywhere and I was always intrigued by the
00:38texture of it and the flavor especially when you crack it open that steam is
00:42released. So I decided to try salt baked zucchini. So you want to make sure that
00:47your zucchini and eggplant are relatively the same size. The biggest step that's
00:51really important here is to make sure that we pierce the skin on the zucchini.
00:55This will allow the salt to get in and some of that moisture to be released.
01:00You see all that liquid that's coming out but the salt's gonna draw out some of
01:04that liquid and then allow the rest of it to steam inside. It has a texture of
01:08like some version of the vegetable that it once was but now it is so creamy on the
01:13inside. And a lot of times when you're sauteing it you have a hard time getting
01:16the exterior and the interior at the same time being cooked the same way. So what
01:21we're doing, the salt bake, this allows us to cook in its entirety where it is cooked
01:26evenly throughout. Basically we're creating a warm and cozy environment to
01:31keep all the moisture in but also season at the same time. So these are
01:34Japanese eggplant. One of the easiest ones to cook and especially for salt bake it
01:37will cook completely even. Not bitter at all, super sweet and creamy. Now we have to
01:41make the salt bake. This may appear like a lot of salt and I know salt's expensive but
01:45save this when you're done because you can absolutely use it again. It's completely shelf-stable. Once you're done with
01:51it,
01:51put it back in a roboku or a food processor at home and it's ready to go one more time.
01:56This is a kosher salt. None of that fine stuff. You don't want fine stuff. You want to
02:01make sure it has some texture because it has to absorb the egg whites. I have toasted
02:04fennel seed and toasted coriander seeds. Some sweetness, some nuttiness, some earthiness,
02:09add some orange zest. Those residual oils that are coming off land right in there. The
02:13salt bake removes some of that excess moisture that sometimes vegetables have that
02:17watery quality to them and then add so much flavor back into it. I'm going to mix this in
02:22and then we're going to add our egg whites. The egg whites help to complete the hardening
02:26of it. You're basically going to mix this to a wet sand consistency. Good sand castle building sand.
02:32So now you can see that I can put my handprint in there and it sticks so it's ready to
02:36go. A nice
02:37cozy bed we're building here. Kind of push them in so they stay in place and let's bury them.
02:43So now that we have our zucchini and eggplant buried we're going to wrap them up and get them
02:47right in the oven. We're going to throw these in an oven at 400 degrees for approximately 30 to 40
02:52minutes. The crust is nice and hard. There's no resistance at all so that's telling me that this
02:57is done. Once it's done you should really remove it from the salt bake so it doesn't keep cooking.
03:02There's nothing more exciting than breaking open this and finding two perfectly cooked vegetables waiting
03:08inside. You can see that the salt actually didn't stick to them. It's so good. You can taste the
03:15eggplant, coriander, fennel. It's seasoned perfectly and the consistency is really truly amazing. It's
03:20not hard on the outside and it's not too soft on the inside. Now that the zucchini is 100%
03:24cooked
03:25even the stem is now edible which is really amazing. That's the way zucchini should taste. I can taste all
03:31the
03:31salt baked, spices, orange. But what I do taste first is the actual grassiness and the sweetness
03:38of zucchini. There are so many different ways to cook zucchini. When you're adding other things and
03:42elements to it like a grill or wood fire or garlic and oil those things can overpower something so subtle
03:49as this zucchini. Right now this salt bake brings out all of the amazing flavors of the actual zucchini.
03:56This technique is so versatile. You can use it in every season from zucchini to squash to beets to celery
04:04root to potatoes. It's super easy to do but it takes a lot of salt but I think it's worth
04:09it. Don't forget
04:10to save that salt for next time. We're gonna saute some spinach. I think cooking a vegetable in this way
04:17with this fast heat and imparting so much flavor with three or four simple ingredients is really
04:23great to have in your back pocket at all times. So we have our cloves of garlic. For me I
04:27use a towel
04:27and basically what I'm going to do is I'm just going to smash this and then peel the outside. Put
04:31it in the oil so that it just infuses it and then we're going to remove it before the spinach
04:37gets in
04:37there. What that does is ensures that the garlic does not burn and then we're going to cut one
04:42cheek off the lemon to squeeze into it. Take your seeds out before we go. One of the things we
04:47always
04:47talk about in our kitchen is lemon and go. You should not put the lemon back on the heat because
04:52that
04:52brightness that we're looking for is going to disappear once you cook it. Do not put anything
04:57in your pan until it's hot. You want it warm. We're gonna coat that bottom. Smashing that garlic
05:02helps it infuse faster because there's more surface area around the garlic. That golden brown is what
05:07we're looking for. Take your garlic out right before you think you need to. Once that garlic is infused
05:14in the oil we'll remove it, reserve it for later and then we can always add it back in. Now
05:19we're
05:19going to go in with our spinach. It's going to make a lot of noise. I find the biggest missteps
05:23in sautéing greens is not building the layers of flavor. Right off the bat this is when we're going
05:28to add that salt. We're going to add a little bit more olive oil which is going to reduce that
05:32cooking
05:33temperature and lower it. It looks like a lot of spinach but I promise you this is going to cook
05:37down. We're going to add our chili flake. I'm going to turn the heat off. We're going to add our
05:42lemon juice.
05:43One quick. Great you can smell the lemon. It's so bright. Lemon juice has acidity. Lemon zest has
05:50oils that are floral and has a different flavor profile than lemon juice. So now we have our
05:57sautéed greens that took two minutes and we're going to go right to the plate with them. And what
06:02we've also created is a wonderful pan sauce for them of garlic, lemon and chilies. That looks great.
06:08Look at that. Super tender. The spinach has really mild flavor. It's super gentle and what this does is
06:12gives the garlic and chilies and lemon a vehicle. And with the stems in there that's also balancing
06:17out because now we have two different textures. You can give me this and I'd be happy for dinner.
06:23Poaching is a great way to cook certain kinds of vegetables so that they're cooked evenly. And I
06:28think that's kind of the theme of today of showing how to cook vegetables in a way that is even,
06:32approachable, flavorful and almost so accessible. Poaching is a cooking method that is under a liquid.
06:40Most people are familiar with like poached eggs. Same concept where you're covering your artichokes
06:45in this liquid that we're going to then slowly simmer. Artichokes most of the time are a signal
06:50for spring, but they are available all year round. Thank you, California. And people are super afraid
06:56of them and they're so flavorful. They seem really labor intensive for a weeknight meal. On a day that
07:02you have time, grab a couple of artichokes and then once you're done cooking them in this olive oil
07:06poaching liquid, just let them stay in there and they'll stay for a week in your fridge. If we're
07:10going to poach in a liquid, we want to put so much flavor in the liquid so that the actual
07:15vegetable
07:16takes all of that love, right? So the white wine adds acid and some sweetness. The olive oil is grassy
07:23and fruity and the water just kind of stretches it out. Now we're going to throw our thyme sprig and
07:28bay leaf. You know those bay leaves they get in the jars at the store? They've been sitting in those
07:32jars for a really long time. If you can find fresh bay leaves, they're really great to keep in your
07:37fridge and they have so much more flavor and better flavor. It's time to clean an artichoke. One of the
07:42things we teach cooks early on is to get your stuff set up so that you're putting your knife down
07:47the
07:47least amount of times as possible. So if you clean this artichoke and then start turning it and then
07:52you put your knife down and then do that three more times, you've just lost many, many seconds in your
07:56day.
07:56So we have a serrated knife and a paring knife. Both can be used to clean the artichokes.
08:01I prefer to cut the tops off with a serrated and clean the rest with a paring knife.
08:06There's a lot of great benefits of using this poaching liquid because it imparts a lot of flavor
08:09to it. It also preserves them. We use this method for sunchokes, olsophy, fennel, potatoes, some other
08:16root vegetables. What is our cartouche? We take this amazing handy piece of parchment paper and then we're
08:21going to use it as a cover. So it fits snugly inside the pot. Keep that on a low simmer
08:25for anywhere from
08:27about 15 to 20 to 25 minutes. Look at those beautiful artichokes. The color on them is like
08:32super bright and yellow. As opposed to the zucchini, with these artichokes we want a slight bit of
08:37resistance. We don't want them to be mush. This poaching liquid really imparts so much flavor to
08:42them and then tenderizes those exterior leaves.
08:46They have super sweetness, almost a slight bitterness in the end and this like insane earthy quality to
08:54them that kind of blow you away. This poaching method works because it cooks it all the way,
08:59all of those different textures and layers of the artichoke all the same way, all consistently every time.
09:08The next method that we are going to dig into is the triple blanching method for green vegetables.
09:15Asparagus and some broccoli and some frozen peas. Frozen peas, honestly, they're super delicious and
09:22a great way to keep in your freezer for a quick weeknight meal. So asparagus, a lot of times you'll
09:27see this end where it's white. You should break it and it'll tell you where it wants to be broken.
09:32One of
09:32my favorite things to do with snap asparagus. You want to cut this broccoli into kind of even pieces,
09:37not too small though. The bigger they are, the easier they are to blanch and the more tender and
09:42flavorful they are. What do we do with this? I actually almost sometimes prefer the stem to the
09:47actual floret. They're so good and so sweet. We salt our blanching water and we salt our shocking
09:53water because if you put your vegetables that are really well seasoned in a blanching water and then into
09:58a basically plain bath, you're basically going to wash away all of those flavors and that seasoning.
10:03Blanching is the act of putting a raw vegetable into a boiling water to begin the cooking process.
10:09So what this does is a three times method is that it keeps the vegetable cooking without it
10:15deteriorating. So it also keeps the flavor locked in, it keeps the color, and it keeps the texture
10:21locked in. One of the most important things about seasoning blanching water is to actually taste it.
10:28It's somewhere between a lake and an ocean. This first time, we're going to seal in that color.
10:33As soon as this goes in, we're going to allow it to come up to a boil and as soon
10:37as it comes back
10:37up to a boil, we're going to drop it into that basket. We don't want to let our vegetables sit
10:42in shocking water. So once they are nice and cold, drain them and then as soon as this is back
10:48up to a boil,
10:49we're going to drop them back in there. Let them sit for a minute or two so that they really
10:53can start
10:53cooking. The third blanch is where we're going to finish the last bits of cooking process and make
10:59sure that they're seasoned correctly. They're pretty tender right now, so we're going to do it on the
11:02same time we did the second time. For cooking peas, you could stop at two, but three is really where
11:07they're going to pull out all their sweetness and their sugars and really show how amazing a frozen
11:14pea can be. And our first vegetable is done. And now we're going to go all in on our asparagus.
11:19This is a super labor-intensive process, but we're just making vegetables taste good.
11:24Look at that. Second time in, you're starting to feel them get a little bit more tender and beginning
11:28that softening process. And still, they are so green still. And for me, asparagus is like the sign
11:34at the ending of winter. It's like hope in a green vegetable. They can bend, which means that they are
11:39tender and soft. They still have some texture left to them, but they're still bright green. We've had that
11:44overcooked mushy asparagus before, but I think it's really time for us to regain our vegetables and our
11:50power back. Oh, it tastes like spring. All right. Next up, broccoli. It's super tasty and delicious.
11:56Most home cooks overcook broccoli. They don't add seasoning to it. Most people are afraid of salt,
12:01but salt actually draws out flavor. And it's a super essential ingredient in cooking. Delicious
12:07vegetables take time. And then look at that. You can smell this. Like that's how flavorful this is.
12:13And all this is, is water and salt. That third blanch, you can let it cook a little bit longer.
12:18And the broccoli is still bright green as it was from the first one. Big fan of broccoli.
12:24Broccoli is delicious. It is tender. It tastes like it's straight out of a garden, to be honest.
12:29So this insane electric color comes from the three times blanching method. All this is, is salt, water,
12:37and thyme. Vegetables are supposed to be easy. And I hope we showed you today how easy they can be.
12:41For me, like vegetables and food and cooking is fun. And what we've done here today is pretty
12:47amazing. The through line from all these techniques that we've shown you today is that we are drawing
12:52flavor out of vegetables that are otherwise thought of as bland or inferior. Don't leave your vegetables
12:58vegetables at the end. Serve your vegetables throughout your whole meal. Show them off.
13:02For me, I view vegetables as the star of the show.
13:05For me, I view
13:05For me, the St
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