Cooking complaint

[wshaffer]

Why is it that when a recipe instructs me to put a vegetable in a saucepan, add water just to cover, bring to a boil and cook until almost all the water is gone, the vegetable is always cooked long before the water goes? Do I like my vegetables more al dente than average? Do I not bring things to a vigorous enough boil? Am I living in a pocket universe where water evaporates at a different rate?

The recipes always turn out fine, so I suppose I shouldn't complain. It's just that whenever I have to toss out that leftover cooking water that shouldn't be there, I feel like I must be throwing away flavor or vitamins or something.

(I made a Moroccan carrot salad to take to brunch tomorrow, and a Turkish eggplant and yogurt salad that will probably be part of dinner tomorrow. If they're tasty, I'll post recipes.)

Comments

[neile.livejournal.com]

Wow--I've never seen a recipe that says to cook until almost all the water is gone. That seems like a recipe for overcooked and/or burnt veg.

You can always save the water for veggie stock for soups.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think, for reasons unknown to me at this time, that more people used to like veggies that are overcooked by my standards. I can't explain this to you. Possibly it's because they were used to cheap canned veggies that had gone to mush?