Cooking vegetables like at a steakhouse

[Mk]

At restaurants they always cook vegetables with butter and serve with steak. Perhaps a combination might be broccoli, carrot, and squash. I always like that and want to learn how to cook it myself, is it called sautéing? How do I do it?

 

[Andre]

cube and cut the veggies, heat up a large and low flat pan, instead of butter better use olive oil. The pan is hot enough when a piece of onion start fizzling instantly when dropped in. Put in the veggies in order of required cooking time, beans longest, brocolli and leek shortest.

The pan should be big enough that the bottom is not fully covered by the veggies. Also keep it moving near constantly. There is a complicated throwing jerking motion to keep the veggies turning over. Best watch a professional do that.

Boil for several minutes until you judge that it is ready

 

[Evo]

The wife of the animal killer in my office makes the best vegetables. He said she places them in foil, seasons them and then throws them on the grill. Anyway, that's not what you're asking for, but they're soooo good.

I found a couple of recipes.

Steakhouse Vegetables
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 (12-ounce) bag broccoli and cauliflower florets
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon seasoned pepper

Steps

1. Place steamer basket and water in medium saucepan (water level should be below bottom of basket); place vegetables in steamer basket. Cover and bring to boil on high; steam 4–5 minutes or until crisp-tender.
2. Carefully remove steamer basket with vegetables (will be very HOT) from saucepan. Discard water. Place all ingredients in same saucepan. Stir until butter melts, over residual heat only, and vegetables are evenly coated. Serve.

http://www.publix.com/aprons/meals/MainDish/SimpleMeal.do?mealId=723&mealGroupId=1001

Sauteed Vegetable Medley - Food Network

4 cups mixed blanched and refreshed vegetables, such as broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, carrot rounds, green beans, or radish quarters, procedure follows
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons water
Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper

Toss vegetables together in a medium bowl.
In a medium saute pan, heat the butter and water together over medium heat. Add the vegetables to the pan and turn the heat to medium high. Toss the vegetables, by gently moving the pan back and forth over the flame. Cook the vegetables for 3 to 4 minutes, or until heated through. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the vegetables to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_22701,00.html

 

[DaveC426913]

Mine:

- Cut up veggies (peppers, potabello 'shrooms, onions) in large chunks.
- Shake in a baggie with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chopped or minced garlic and lots of cracked pepper.
- Barbeque.
- Squeal with delight.

 

[gravenewworld]

Also don't overcook the veggies. It is very easy to do it. If your broccoli starts turning grayish/brownish and isn't bright green then you overcooked your broccoli. Veggies should always be tender but firm. Too many people and restaurants always seem to overcook veggies.

 

[Cyrus]

I have found the key is that there is just the right amount of salt in their steamed vegtables, and just the right amount of cracked pepper on the steak. I have never tasted olive oil in vegtables from a steakhouse.

 

[turbo]

I like to grill vegetables in a wire clamshell basket, painting them with a sauce that is sweet/sour/hot with a little salt. Maybe lemon juice, molasses, ketchup and/or salsa with cracked peppercorns.

If you want restaurant-style vegetables, you should steam them, cook them until still firm and bright, toss them in a bowl with a big pat of salted creamery butter and serve. Steaming is the secret to retaining the taste of the vegetables, and salted butter is every French chef's secret weapon.

We steam vegetables a lot, but when they are going to be combined with meat (like in a stir-fry) it's tastier to stir fry the meat (chicken, pork, whatever) in peanut oil, add in the firmer vegetables (carrots first, green pepper second, etc) and onions and continue to sear them with the meat, then add in the more delicate vegetables (like broccoli), along with some wine (watch for oil-spatters!), cover the wok and stir let the steam from the wine finish cooking the vegetables.

 

[Astronuc]

We've use a method similar to the ones Evo described. We place a small colendar in a medium saucepan with water. The water is brought to a boil and the vegetables are placed on top of the colander for 4-5 minutes, or slightly longer if one prefers softer vegetable. Slices or pads of butter are added toward the end.

Broccoli and cauliflower (florets), and thinly sliced vegetables take short time, with carrots and beans a little longer, and potatoes take up to 30 min.

This article covers a steaming method.
http://www.ehow.com/how_13886_steam-vegetables.html

Cheese or cream sauces are prepared separately.


Another way of preparing vegetables is to boil the water in a pasta boiler (with removal perforated lid), then drop the vegatables in for 20 seconds, but I've found 30-40 seconds works better for me, then pour out the water. This cooks the outer layers of vegetables and leaves the inside firm. I've done this with asparagus and found it works very well. The asparagus is firm, but not too firm, and the tips are not too soft. I imagine this would work well with broccoli and cauliflower.

One can extend the time to 1 min - 2 min to soften the vegetables.

 

[DaveC426913]

Also don't overcook the veggies.

Absolutely. My wife (though she loves me so much as to cook me foods she doesn't eat) likes to cook my 'shrooms until they're little shrivelled things.

Me, I figure, since they're edible raw anyway, there's little need to cook them more than to soften them and infuse them with juices.

 

[Evo]

Depends on the vegetable though. Eggplant needs to be thoroughly cooked to have the best flavor, and undercooked corn isn't that great either.

Collard greens must be thoroughly cooked to break down the tough cell membranes or will lose almost all of their nutritive value.

Potatoes I like a little undercooked and crunchy, but they are definitely something that's better cooked than not.