Magnificent News: Eat Voraciously: Give your vegetables a bath

Read online

Here's what's for dinner tonight.

By G. Daniela Galarza

Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up here.

Give your vegetables a bath

Hi all, hope your week is off to a nice start. Today's recipe is for Vegetables à la Grecque, a dish I've become a little bit obsessed with as its backstory provides a fun glimpse into food history. The traditional recipe involves making what the French call a court bouillon, which is a quick, meatless broth often containing aromatics and wine. This is then reduced into a sauce. Separately, a selection of vegetables is briefly cooked in boiling water, just until crisp-tender. The vegetables are then bathed in the sauce and served, either warm, at room temperature or cold.

The name suggests that this is a Greek preparation, but you'll note that the recipe's title is written in French. Dozens of French cookbooks — probably more, but that's as many as I consulted — include a version of these vegetables. In 1961, Julia Child included it in her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," with a headnote advising that artichokes, celery, cucumbers and more seasonal vegetables could be cooked à la Grecque. James Beard included a recipe for the dish in his 1974 "Beard on Food." He wrote, "Vegetables à la Grecque are as old as time, but surprisingly enough not too well known, although this is one of the simplest and most delicious ways of cooking seasonal vegetables."

In Tamar Adler's "Something Old, Something New: Oysters Rockefeller, Walnut Souffle, and Other Classic Recipes Revisited," she uncovers some of the dish's history. Sources suggest the first time the recipe was committed to print was in 1884, by the French chef Auguste Escoffier.

Though Escoffier claims to have watched Greek cooks make the dish, Adler writes with due authority that vegetables prepared in this precise manner "are not Greek at all." Vegetables à la Grecque is a French dish through and through — though it was probably influenced by a Greek taste for acidity and ripe vegetables. Beard was on the money when he wrote that the dish is "as old as time." Indeed, similar dishes, for vegetables in sour, sweet, herbaceous, spiced or pungent dressings, exist in Greek cuisine … as well as ancient and existing cuisines throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean. The Phoenicians probably ate vegetables in essentially the same manner. Ancient Persian and Roman vegetable dishes are similarly dressed, or served with a savory sauce for dunking.

In this variation of Vegetables à la Grecque, from Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi's "Around the World in 120 Salads," you'll make a sweet-tart sauce out of olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, sugar and tomato paste. Coriander seeds, white peppercorns, herbs and garlic enhance the sauce's savory flavors. After a quick simmer, you'll let an array of seasonal baby vegetables soak in it before serving. When we took this photo, we chose yellow cauliflower, thin green beans, baby zucchini, quartered red radishes and purple carrots. There's no wrong vegetable here — just be sure to cook it very briefly before soaking it in the wonderful sauce.

Today's recipe

Photos by Scott Suchman for The Washington Post; food styling by Nicola Davis for The Washington Post

Vegetables à la Grecque

Find substitution suggestions and other tips below the recipe.

This recipe calls for a bouquet garni, which is a cinch to make: Use kitchen twine (or a small cheese cloth bag) to tie together stems of herbs for flavor. The bundle makes for quick and easy removal.

To save or print this recipe, view it in our Recipe Finder here.

Servings: 4 to 6
Total time: 40 mins

Ingredients

1/2 teaspoon coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon white peppercorns
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons concentrated tomato paste
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 small bouquet garni (herbs such as parsley, thyme and bay leaf; see headnote)
Pinch fine salt, plus more as needed
1 3/4 pounds baby vegetables of your choice, trimmed and cut, as needed (see headnote)
4 ounces small button mushrooms, cleaned and cut into halves or quarters
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish
Poached eggs, for serving (optional)

Steps

1. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the coriander and white peppercorns, then transfer the mixture to a large pan. Add the oil, water, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar, tomato paste, garlic, bouquet garni and salt. Set the pan over low heat and cook gently, stirring occasionally with a whisk to form a smooth dressing, about 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. You'll use it to cook/blanch the separate kinds of vegetables, except for the mushrooms: Allow 1 minute for the cauliflower florets, 30 seconds for the green beans, 90 seconds for the zucchini spears, 30 seconds for the radishes and 2 to 3 minutes for the carrots. Drain the blanched vegetables and add to the pan with the dressing.

3. Add the raw mushrooms to the pan, stir gently to coat all the vegetables and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Discard the bouquet garni.

4. Transfer the vegetables with the dressing to a bowl, and let cool a little. Taste and season with more salt and/or black pepper, as desired. Scatter the parsley on top, and add the poached eggs to each serving, if using. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

Adapted from "Around the World in 120 Salads: Fresh Healthy Delicious," by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi (Kyle Books, 2017). Tested by Joe Yonan.

Nutrition information per serving: Calories: 250; Total Fat: 19 g; Saturated Fat: 3 g; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Sodium: 150 mg; Carbohydrates: 20 g; Dietary Fiber: 3 g; Sugar: 14 g; Protein: 3 g.

Substitution suggestions + other tips and ideas:

Out of sugar >> use honey or agave instead.
No white peppercorns? >> Pink, green or black peppercorns would be fine here.
Can't have tomatoes? >> Skip the paste.
If you don't have baby vegetables >> Use full-size ones, just cut them into smaller pieces before cooking.