What's the best vegetable dish you've ever eaten?

My grandmother’s mashed potatoes and broccoli with cheese sauce.

I was a vegetarian for 9 years and had my share of amazing vegetable dishes (still do). A few nights ago I had a vegetable masala that was amazing. Along with a small amount of basmati rice, I could eat that every day.

i had Samosa chaat last night that was out of this world. I love vegetarian Indian food.

Just one? Most of my initial thoughts seem to revolve around potato!

I love potato bake. I loved my dad’s potato cakes. I love Indian vegetable curries. I love Biryanis.

I love well-cooked homemade baked beans. I had some in Vermont once that were absolutely the best ever – and the cook apologized that they just weren’t that good.

Other than that, I like succotash made the old-fashioned way with just corn and shell beans (cranberry beans; speckled beans; French horticultural beans; Roman beans – all the same thing).

A baked potato with melting butter has been a perfectly acceptable supper many times.

I also enjoy a prepared Indian dish that I buy in heat-and-eat packages: Kohinoor™ brand Kashmiri Rajma, which is sort of an Indian meatless chili. I buy the store’s whole stock of that when they have it (infrequently) and enjoy it for lunch at work for weeks on end.

But mostly I just like tossed salads, and have them frequently – and only the salad – for dinner: red cabbage, minced jalapeño peppers, radishes, slivered carrots, Romaine lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, sliced cubanelle peppers, a slice of red onion, green olives, pickled peperoncini, chick peas & kidney beans, and Ken’s Italian dressing. Probably a few more vegetables that just aren’t coming to me right now, too.

Eggplant parmesian. I sometimes make it a low fat way with unbreaded roasted eggplant, rather than fried, and it’s always delicious to me.

Another is sauteed mushrooms, onions and spinach. I sautee the mushrooms and onions in very little oil, sprinkle some garlic salt, then when they are a minute short of being done I add fresh or frozen spinach, a little more salt on everything, cook another minute, and done. I eat it as meal by itself, as a side dish, or sometimes with pasta or rice.

@CWOTUS thank you for reminding me about Kohinoor products, I had completely forgotten about them. Having been introduced to them by a friend I was totally surprised at how delicious they were, maybe I will put a few away in the cupboard for future use. : ^)

I love vegetables and to me, a vegetable plate is a great alternative to traditional meat and potatoes.

I love just plain string beans and a little salt, cauliflower and a little salt, zucchini and a little salt, brussel sprouts with a little salt, beets and a little salt. All of the above, just boiled, simple. No oil, no butter. Spinach, boiled with a little salt is another great one.

Indian food of all types, yum!

Once at a pot luck party, a co-worker brought in a dish that was zucchini, maybe bread crumbs in some kind of creamy casserole that was cut in pieces. Very good.

Any kind of quiche, very good.

Pizza with veggies, how I like it.

Zucchini sliced and fried in some oil with egg and Italian breadcrumbs, a great thing, too.

Vegetarian moussaka. It was baked into a little ramekin with this rich creamy cheese melted over the top. I think they finished it by broiling, or baked it at a high temperature, because the cheese was crispy and brown on top.

Inside, the eggplant was tender and there were thinly-sliced potatoes that were nice and firm and absorbed all the sauce. The whole thing was SO rich and comforting.

I had it with a Greek wine called Kir-Yianni Xinomavro which the restaurant was serving by the glass. A glass was $6, meaning you could probably buy the bottle for $10 in a store. It was so earthy and savory without being heavy. Kind of like the flavors and texture of a Barolo, but much more easygoing. That wine stands out as being one of the best/ cheapest things I’ve had all fall. It was a drizzly fall night and the combination of the weather, the food, and the wine were so perfect together.

Cauliflower Au Gratin

Veggie Soufle

Last night I made cauliflower “rice”. I grated a head of cauliflower on a box grater and added the zest and ½ of the juice from one lime, a teaspoon of chopped garlic and sauteed it in coconut and toasted sesame oils. I’m about to break into the leftovers to go with my lunch today.

I went out to a local restaurant for my birthday recently and got hand tossed pizza with hummus, roasted veggies and goat cheese. Yummmmmm.

I heard some TV cook (Rachel Ray, maybe) suggest making mashed potatoes and putting in a little cauliflower, and each successive time you make mashed potatoes, put less potato and more cauliflower. What she said is that if you boil up cauliflower and mash it with some milk and butter, it tastes like a great substitute for mashed potatoes and kids won’t even know. I never make mashed potatoes at home (too much work), so this probably won’t occur in my household, but it’s a noble idea and probably tastes pretty good.

@jca, we haven’t had it for a while, but we often substitute mashed cauliflower for potatoes. It’s a lot healthier and fits the job played by potato in some meals.

Broccoli and ranch dip.

Yum @everybody : )