Did you push veggies around on your plate until Mom made you eat them? Then perhaps vegetables are neglected on your menu, as well.

Today’s diners include those who flat-out love vegetables, as well as those who are trying to eat them at least once in a while. According to research, tasty sides can help swing the decision on where to have dinner tonight. So why not give veggies more attention?

Mix & Mash

Mashed potatoes are classic, of course. And there are plenty of ways to make them exciting. Ranch or peppercorn dressing is a great topping for smushed spuds. Try adding options to the potato purée, such as roasted root vegetables—rutabagas, celery root or turnips. Sweet potatoes also combine well with potatoes for more interesting mashers. Stir in a dash of olive oil and some sage.

For intriguing scalloped potatoes, include thinly sliced fennel. With the wide variety of potatoes available, you could offer a side dish with several kinds of potato chunks for flavor and color: yellow, purple, white, red. Another option: Make a veggie “hash” with potatoes plus beets, potatoes plus mushrooms, potatoes plus onions…

Veg Out

Looking to create a signature side? Start with an everyday veggie and make it special. Sweet onions, for example, cut in wedges. Add red onion wedges, pearl onions and shallots—all in a casserole dish. Then top with herbed croutons, chicken broth and shredded Gruyere; bake until the cheese melts. Impressive!

Carrots, mushrooms and onions are very nice together—but perhaps not much of a thrill. Ladled with a mustard cream sauce, they’re spectacular. The Burgerville chain makes an effort with their veggies, offering golden-fried asparagus spears with aioli dipping sauce in season, part of a rotation of veggie LTOs. At the 64 locations of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, sugar snap peas with carrots, red onion and soy-chile glaze are the most popular side dish.

Spiced to Entice

With ethnic flavors on consumers’ radar, vegetables are a great place to offer a touch of the exotic. Oven-roasting cauliflower florets and cherry-tomato halves with olive oil, turmeric, ground red pepper and salt makes a great side dish with Indian flair; garnish with chopped cilantro. Green beans get a delicious Asian twist with a bit of fresh ginger, plus soy sauce, sesame seeds, scallions and a splash of rice vinegar.

Bon Appétit touts Austrian cuisine as the “Best of the Year,” with a tasty vegetable example: red cabbage accented with green apple, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, canola oil, toasted walnuts and a touch of lingonberry preserves.

Vegetables can also take on spices without a country of inspiration. For example, cut hard squash into rings and flavor with chipotle, star anise, malt vinegar and maple syrup before baking.

Here Comes the Salad

Salad means veggies, and one of the many benefits of salad is simplicity. For a refreshing and elegant salad, combine crispy green lettuce (iceberg, escarole, butter) with apple chunks and toasted nuts (almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts) in a citrus-based dressing. Done. Value-added products can make things even easier: Mix pre-washed baby greens with pre-shredded slaw, pre-shredded hard cheese and “your own” dressing—bottled Italian plus ranch.

Also quick: Toss baby spinach leaves with chopped dried figs, crumbled blue cheese and spiced pecans. Or go Asian with peeled and grated carrots, green onions, rice vinegar, chopped fresh ginger and dried cranberries. How about Italian? Try sliced button mushrooms, chopped fennel, and Parmesan shavings with extra virgin olive oil.

Chefs are also pushing the envelope with “salad.” One example: Toast kale and coconnnut flakes in a 350-degree oven until crispy. Dress with olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce and a sprinkle of salt.

That Was What?

Sometimes vegetables can fool you, thanks to a thoughtful cooking method or carefully selected spice. Take radishes, for example. Select a variety of radishes (red, black, daikon), toss them with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper, and roast. They’re a great accompaniment for grilled steak or roast chicken. In Minneapolis, one chef smokes zucchini, eggplant and asparagus for complex flavor.

There are plenty of other ways to raise the taste bar on veggies. Sauté kale in olive oil with red onion and garlic; add toasted pine nuts to serve. Fry chips of sunchoke, a.k.a. Jerusalem artichoke, and season with rosemary salt. You’ve had sweet potatoes before, but probably not roasted and glazed with Chinese five-spice powder, nutmeg, brown sugar and butter. Charring vegetables in a sauté pan also gives them customer appeal.

Brussels sprouts qualified for Food & Wine magazine’s “Judges’ Choice”—skillet-sautéed with onions, spiced with paprika, and teamed with extra-sharp cheddar on thick slices of multi-grain bread.

Ah, veggies. Give them a chance. Look at all the ways trend-setting chefs and savvy chains are dressing them up. Shamrock Foods is a great resource for value-added options, seasonal choices and recipe ideas. Everything from ideas to Katy’s Kitchen^® BRAND salad dressings and fresh Markon^® asparagus is available with your next delivery.

Presentation Plus

• How to talk about veggie dishes on the menu? Menu Engineer Gregg Rapp
suggests: “One solution might be to treat these descriptions like a ‘daily catch’ and
use menu inserts […]” (Flavor & The Menu, Fall 2009). If you’re using fresh-and-
fancy produce from Markon, include info on the variety, origin and flavor profile.
That detail is always available through your Shamrock Sales Representative, or
from www.markon.com.

• At Chicago-based steakhouse chain Morton’s, the server brings baked potatoes
tableside and then cuts them to release the steam with patrons looking on. The
final flourish: The server adds the toppings of choice. Talk about enhancing the
spud experience!

• Looking good can be as important for veggies as tasting good. Present potatoes
diced small and cooked risotto style in broth and cream for extra elegance.
Wavy-slicing, dicing or matchsticking veggies will also make them more alluring.