Naked Veggies

At one of my favorite local haunts, which has the most amazing raw greens selection in their salad bar, all of which are washed, chopped finely, spun dry and clearly labeled, something caught my attention today.

In addition to all the lovely raw options, there are also several simply steamed veggie choices, including broccoli, asparagus and Brussels Sprouts.

They’re labeled “Naked Veggies”.

As they should be!  

Fresh, local and organic, I almost feel as if it would taint their beauty and cover up their natural flavors if one were to put anything (other than perhaps some wild salmon sashimi or grass fed carpaccio) on them!

Many people are convinced that plain veggies are tasteless (which they certainly can be if they’re grown thousands of miles away, picked too early and flown to your grocery store in freezer container!  Is there anything worse than a tomato produced in this manner?), and as such, need to be smothered in cheese-based dressing or battered, breaded and deep fried in order to make them remotely appetizing.

So unfortunate!

If this is you, give it another try.  Pop into your farmer’s market and learn about what is in season wherever you live and try it.  Bets are on that the baby broccolini that you take home, steam lightly and toss with olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and a twist of lemon will be a far cry from the over cooked brown mushy version you may have been given as a kid… which you then covered with a heap of cheddar cheese!

Pass the broccoli, please…and let’s keep it unadulterated!