- Home
- Products to Discover
- Fruits and Vegetables
- Ways to Use Garden Vegetables
Advice From my Produce Expert - 4 Québec products to add to your recipes
- 10 Ways to Eat More Fruit Every Day
- Brighten up Your Plate with Citrus Fruit
- 12 Fresh Five-Star Salads
- Discover Hot and Sweet Peppers
- Eat More Nuts
- Enjoy Locally Grown Vegetables Year-Round
- Ways to Use Garden Vegetables
- Ketchups, Relishes, Chutneys, Marinades and Aromatic Vinegars
- Cranberries
- Cook with potatoes
- 8 Easy Recipes to Prepare Pumpkin—Differently
- Eat your veggies from the leaves to the roots
- Rediscover Fries!
- Super Salads!
- Eat more chickpeas
- Fruits and vegetables on the barbecue
- Apples on the menu
TopWays to Use Garden Vegetables
Colorful and crisp, garden vegetables lend themselves to so many flavourful combinations. These earthly treasures are a feast for the eye as well as the palate.
Sides and appetizer ideas
- Slightly blanch small bunches of broccoli and top them with a horseradish and walnut vinaigrette
- Arrange small broccoli florets over a tomato or red hot pepper coulis
- Cut your favourite vegetables julienne style, then sear in a light oil with a few drops of sesame oil added
- Make a red hot pepper coulis with lemon juice and a drop of cream to go with salmon and other seafood dishes
- Brush garlic and herb-flavoured olive oil on grilled hot peppers, summer squash, eggplants and onions
- Make cold or warm salads with green beans, shrimp and almonds; new potatoes, red onions, walnuts and goat cheese; or cauliflower, red hot peppers and black olives
Get creative with soups
- Upgrade an everyday soup with exotic herbs or spices
- Add artichoke bottoms, cooked and diced, in minestrone or cream of asparagus soups
- Purée basil, garlic and olive oil and use as a garnish over green bean and potato soup
- Make a cold soup of summer squash, onions, olive oil and plain yogurt
- Add curry and coriander to carrot soup
- Enrich cream of broccoli soup with cubes of blue d’Auvergne
- Chop eggplant and cook with tomato soup
- Make an apple velouté to add to a radish, tomato and beet soup then top with citrus fruit zest
Sweet and salty
- Onion is enjoyed both as an accompanying vegetable and condiment — it can be caramelized with veal, candied with pâtés or used for fruit chutneys
- Carrots pair well with citrus fruit — grated carrots, quartered oranges, grapefruit along with a little cinnamon makes a simple, satisfying salad
- Try mixing carrot juice with honey and coconut milk for a deliciously sweet drink
- When cooking carrots, add a trickle of apple or orange juice to enhance their sweet taste
- Chutneys and marinades of fruit and vegetables with a bitter-sweet taste pair well with cheeses and meat dishes
- Use vegetables to make sweet treats, such as carrot cookies, summer-squash muffins, beet and carrot cake or green tomato pie.
Preserving summer's bounty
- Home canning and freezing vegetables are two ways to take advantage of their abundance at summer's end
- Stored in a dark, dry and cool environment, homemade preserves keep so long as the seal remains intact — but they're best enjoyed within a year of canning
- Watch for signs of spoilage such as a bulging lid, a leaky jar, a spurt of liquid upon opening or viscous or pulpy marinades. These are signs that the jar is damaged — avoid tasting the product and discard it immediately!
Tips and tricks
- Keep lettuce and spinach extra fresh by washing, draining, wrapping in absorbent paper and refrigerating them in an airproof plastic bag
- When buying leafy greens that come in airtight sealed packages, refrigerate them that way
- Do not wash other fresh vegetables before storing because this accelerates spoilage
- Cook vegetables as quickly as possible and with methods that require little water, such as steaming, to preserve their nutritional value
- Keep leftover vegetable broth as it contains nutritional elements and can be used for soups or sauces;
- Freeze leftover broth in ice-cube trays and place the frozen cubes in freezer bags to use only the necessary amount when desired
- Vegetables stored in plastic bags made especially for freezing will keep for up to a year in a freezer at –18°C
- Most frozen vegetables do not need to be thawed before cooking, but cooking time will be shorter than when using fresh vegetables
- Enjoy fresh vegetables as quickly as possible to get more of their nutritional value
- With the exception of onions, which should be left uncovered, most vegetables will keep in the refrigerator in a perforated plastic vegetable bag
- Broccoli, spinach and green and yellow beans keep for 4 or 5 days
- Fresh carrots, cauliflower, hot peppers, tomatoes, radishes, new potatoes, summer squash and lettuce all last up to a week
- Onions and beets are good for up to 4 weeks
Expert Tip
Cut the green tops off root gourd vegetables (carrots, radishes, beets) before storing because they dehydrate the vegetable and diminish its nutritional value
Recipes to try
STAY CONNECTED
Download the My Metro app.
Grocery list, flyer, coupons and points all at your fingertips!
Follow us
for more inspiration, recipes and exclusive offers.
