Fresh ways to eat your veggies

Even though we may spend months anticipating the bounty of summer vegetable season, it’s easy to fall into a rut of preparing the same dishes over and over once the vegetables arrive at the market. Chef Amanda Cohen of the restaurant Dirt Candy shows us how to break out of the boring vegetable routine. Cohen, who penned a cookbook named after her restaurant, shakes things up by grilling vegetables that aren’t typically grilled, like leafy greens such as spinach or kale.

Frugality has led Cohen to additional interesting discoveries. She hates to waste any food, so she uses the green tops of vegetables like carrots, celery, and radishes instead of throwing them away. Celery tops are one of Cohen’s favorites, especially Chinese celery. She uses the leafy tops in stir fries. “It has that punch-you-in-the-face, bitter-arugula taste,” she says. Cohen also uses corn cobs left over from grilling to make a smoky corn broth. 

Desserts are another surprising place that Cohen uses vegetables. She serves a carrot meringue pie, which “has this soft, luscious sweet carrot taste to it-but it’s not overpowering, so you don’t feel like you’re eating a vegetable,” she notes. Strawberries and tomatoes share the spotlight in a cobbler. In addition to these creative ideas, the article includes recipes for tomato and smoked feta salad and zucchini and pasta noodles with a garlicky yogurt sauce.

Photo of carrot top pesto from Stonesoup in the EYB Library