This is one of my favorite ways to cook vegetables in the summer. You can do huge batches of veggies at one time, using the same liquid. Once cooked, they keep in the fridge for a week, ready to be converted into any number of lunches, salads or fast dinners.

The only bit of tediousness with this recipe is that the different types of vegetables need to be cooked in batches. Carrots will take a vastly different amount of time than peas and so should not be cooked together. The denser the vegetable, the longer it will take to poach.

The only way to tell if the vegetables are done is to taste them. These are my favorite vegetables to cook this way: carrots, potatoes, celery root, onions, fennel, summer squash, green beans, peas of all sorts, and corn.

Poaching Liquid

• 2 C water
• 2 C white wine
• ½ C lemon juice
• ½ C olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp ground pepper

1. Combine all of the Poaching Liquid ingredients and bring to just under a boil
2. Add the vegetables to the liquid cooking one type of veg at a time
3. When the veg are cooked to your liking, remove from the liquid with a strainer or tongs and allow to cool in a single layer on a cookie sheet. (If the veg are heaped up after cooking they will continue cooking under their own heat.)
4. When all the veg are done cooking, the poaching liquid can be reduced and saved as a sauce. If it is too tart for your taste, add a couple of tablespoons of butter as it reduces to mellow the flavor.
5. In the photo above, the warm poaching liquid was tossed with some torn chard to make the dish more salad-y.