Basic Cooking Tips - How to Saute Vegetables

We all love those delicious sauteed vegetables we get in restaurants. They are colorful, full of flavor, and tender. Your first few tries at this cooking method may be a bit tricky. Keep trying and you will soon have it mastered, however. Sauteing is the technique of cooking over a high heat to concentrate the flavor of your food. The high heat evaporates the water inside and caramelizes them just enough to make them savory on the outside and tender on the inside. A good saute always uses some kind of fat in the cooking process; either butter, oil or rendered animal fat. It adds flavor as well as aids in the caramelizing of the veggies.
You have probably seen chefs on television tossing the vegetables in the air as they saute them. This can be a little intimidating when you are cooking at home, but it is a worthwhile skill to master. Tossing the vegetables is gentler than stirring them, which can crush some of veggies no matter how careful you. Try tossing some dried beans in a cold pan to learn this technique. Once you have it mastered, you will be able to impress your friends with your new culinary skill.
Tossing should be done only with small vegetable pieces. Larger pieces of potato, eggplant, or zucchini can be sauteed in a single layer until they are a pretty brown, and then turned carefully with tongs. If you are using a watery vegetable like tomatoes, you may want to try breading them with flour to help absorb the extra moisture. Some dense vegetables like squash may need to be blanched lightly to cut down on cooking time in the saute pan. A good saute pan will have a heavy bottom to allow for even distribution of the heat.
Prep your vegetables well before chopping them up. Wash them thoroughly and pat them dry. Vegetables that work well in a saute include broccoli, bell peppers, onions, green beans, cauliflower, carrots, celery, mushrooms, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, zucchini, eggplant and many others. You can even add in spinach or other leafy green at the last moment of cooking.

Recipe for Vegetable Saute
What You Need

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 6 cremini mushrooms, chopped
• 4 broccoli florets, chopped
• 1/2 zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 yellow summer squash, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons chicken stock

How to Make It
Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the olive oil and let it warm. Add the garlic and saute for about half a minute, stirring to prevent burning. Add the rest of the chopped vegetables and let them cook until they just begin to wilt; about 2 minutes. Add your oregano, chicken stock, and soy sauce, stirring well to incorporate them into the mixture. Cook until the vegetables are just tender; about 3 minutes. Do not overcook them. Remove the pan from the heat and serve with whatever sauce is in the pan.

Read More : http://ezinearticles.com/