Treating vegetables right- how to blanch and shock

A common misunderstanding when cooking vegetables is that they have to be droopy and soft in order for them to be "properly" cooked, or that broccoli, for instance, either has to be boiled or steamed for several minutes before it is deemed cooked. WRONG! Let me teach you how to properly cook most vegetables, like broccoli, green beans, peas, carrots, etc.

First, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Next, get a large bowl and fill 1/2 with ice and 1/2 with water. Get your vegetables all ready to go into the boiling water by either frenching the green beans, cutting the broccoli into florets, julienne your carrots, etc. Drop your vegetables (please, only like-vegetables together; broccoli with broccoli, not broccoli with carrots... catch my drift?) into the salted, boiling water for about 1 minute, until green vegetables turn a more beautiful green, carrots become more orange, etc. The vegetable should still be al dente, or have that bite/resistance. Immediately remove the vegetables from the boiling water and place in the ice water bath until they are cool to the touch.

What you have just done is called blanching and shocking. You blanched the veggies in the boiling water, and then shocked them in the ice water. Your vegetables are now ready to eat as-is, or you can further cook them by sauteeing in olive oil with maybe garlic or shallots and S&P :) You're now one step closer to becoming a better home cook!