What advice would you give to a cook/chef about cooking vegetables?

don't overcook vegetables because then they are mashy, they lose their natural taste and vitamins and no one likes eating them. besides overcooked vegetables don't look appealingWhat advice would you give to a cook/chef about cooking vegetables?
Don't cook them too hard--crisp vegetables still have their nutrients, but softened vegetables have lost a lot of the good stuff. Steamed vegetables are great and steamers don't cost too much. You can spice up vegetables with a touch of your favorite salad dressings and a little bit of parmesan cheese. One of my favorites is to take Fat Free/Low Fat Ranch (and type), a little bit of Low Fat cream cheese, some dijon mustard, heat slightly to soften the cheese, stir it up and toss with cooked broccoli/cauliflower. Vegetables are great in soups--I love turkey with broccoli, green beans, corn, potatoes and peas--stews, casseroles and meat pies. The easiest way to prepare them is to heat frozen vegetables in the microwave (those are the ones that I typically use in a casserole or tossed with dressing; hides the frozen/thawed flavor). The best tasting vegetables are fresh ones, though!What advice would you give to a cook/chef about cooking vegetables?
I often make salads for friends and I add the smallest amount of salad dressing. They are shocked, the are offended, am I so cheap.





But then they taste it, and they absolutely love it. Because I buy nice fresh vegetables and the salad dressing should only be there to enhance the flavour.





In many restaurants the salad dressing is the flavour, so they can use horrible tasting vegetables.





Basically vegetables are lovely. Keep it simple. Use sauces and flavours to enhance, never over power the vegetables.
Well this doesnt give much to go on , what specificly would this Chef/Cook want to know.





Braising , grilling, stewing.. ect., we need to know more. And when that happens I would be glad to give more of an indepth answer.





OK so I see that didnt get a response so check out the following links on Tips every chef/cook should know and Cooking Terms about vegtables and other items. ok I know you probably dont want links to look at but really if your serious about learning to become a chef or better yourself as a cook these will benefit you in the end. Ive been a Caterer for 8 plus yrs now and I still go back to the books to learn or refresh my memory on things I dont use in everyday prepration. Good luck
Most important is to make sure they are clean. It is the most disgusting when you get out and restaurants forget to clean the veggies and fruit properly. Besides it is one of the main reasons people get food poisening.





How to cook them depends on what it is served with and individul taste. I like my veggies chewy. My in laws like them thoroughly cooked, so cook them as you would yourself.
Steam it, try to keep as much of the nutrients in, ans SEASON! Seasoning would be the best advice because you can't always drench your veggies in a cheese or cream sauce. Seasoning with spices, yum!
eat them raw - when you cook them you destroy the enzymes your body needs to digest them and the amino acids (protein) that your body needs ..