Winning Sides | Vegetable Dishes

From spicy broccoli to honeyed sweet potatoes, seven innovative recipes to get you excited about eating your vegetables.

An expensive prime roast needs only simple seasoning to make a grand entrance. Wouldn't it be nice if the vegetables served with it could elicit the same oohs and ahs? The challenge of choosing vegetables that everyone likes and making them exciting can stump even the most experienced cooks. Sometimes just using a new spice—like toasted cumin, with cauliflower—can add a big flavor boost. Merely changing the appearance—say, pureeing cooked carrots for a velvety custard, or serving broccoli florets with full-length stems left on—can create a bit of drama. At my house, I usually carve the roast, and since I can't help snacking on the best tidbits while I slice, by the time we sit down, I've already had plenty of meat and crisp skin. So I fill my plate with all the vegetables and potatoes I can eat.

Published December 2000