Vegetables, besides being delicate, are among the most diverse and flavorful foods. Therefore, the processing technique should first and foremost respect their water content, and cooking plays a fundamental role. Let's take a step back from the classic boiling method used by grandmothers. In this case, the dispersion of microelements and nutrients is about 70%. Today, thanks to experimentation, we can use steam, which reduces the dispersion to 30%. Moreover, with sous-vide cooking, it's possible to decrease this percentage even further to 7%. At Ecooking, we prepare leafy vegetables we season and we steam cook them. It's easy to understand the advantages of this cooking method: less seasoning is used, and therefore less salt; it significantly enhances the flavour structure of vegetables, and, what’s important, it allows us to work with seasonal vegetables, preserving them thanks to the cold chain and having them available at other times of the year.
Another very valid and appreciated technique is sautéing. I love fusion cuisine, and I believe the Chinese are masters of sautéing. Vigorous cooking in the wok gives vegetables a super-crispy texture and vibrant colour. The wok retains much more liquid, allowing vegetables to sauté more effectively. Another important element is temperature, which needs to be carefully monitored. For example, cooking leafy vegetables at 100/110 degrees in a pressure cooker for a couple of minutes risks damaging them very quickly.
I would like to connect to this topic of handling techniques to express a concept that is dear to me, that is, waste. The old saying that nothing of the pig is wasted can be applied confidently to vegetables and fruits as well. Of course, there are exceptions, such as the green leaf of the tomato that is not consumed. However, many vegetables have excessive waste, even though much of it can be used. For example, the peel of the pumpkin, the carrot peel, or even the zucchini bush, which is a hollow body from which I create vegan penne. Vegetable seeds can be used to make chips. Handling, therefore, involves not only the right cooking or temperature but also the cleaning and peeling phase to make the most of every part of the product. I cannot overlook emphasizing that hydroponic farms, both at home and in restaurants, are of great help to avoid waste. Only what is consumed is harvested, avoiding not only waste but also large quantities of unconsumed food.