The general populace is becoming more welcoming of adapting to healthy lifestyle and eating choices. Wellness experts and dieticians have been recommending the addition of leafy greens to combat the culture of trans fats in the fast food economy. A food critic will want to see variety or at least delectable green items on the menu for them to try and see how a restaurant deals with using vegetables in their meals.
Vegetables are tricky ingredients that are often underutilised with amateur restaurants serving ‘fresh’ dishes as salads blasted with seasoning to evoke flavour when there’s none. From soups to casseroles to the fan-favourite garden salad, vegetables make up the menu from the appetiser section to the deserts. If you want to make sure that you’re using your greens to their best potential, here are some tips for serving veggies.
Understanding your menu
What your customers will be seeing won’t be the images of the food or the reviews they see online. Your list can be your most versatile advertisement tool in catering to food critics. Most restaurants that want to endorse greens in their inventory have a smart tactic in addressing their menu’s layout. Some restaurants categorise the food not by its meat choices but by vegetable choice. It’s all a matter of utilising your word choice to make sure that you can grab your customers’ attention right off the bat.
Work with what’s in season
Using seasonal vegetables and fruits in your menu is a smart way of attracting adventurous eaters who are aware of the products in season. Produce in season is sold cheaper due to abundant supply. Leafy greens such as lettuce are great for buying in bulk during spring, fruit choices like watermelons and mangoes are summer’s best, while winter offers plenty of root vegetables and squashes. Keep track of where you can outsource IQF vegetable suppliers in the UK so that you can have the best quality ingredients once peak season comes for you to order.
Add vegetables to your specials
Vegetarian dishes have made their way to the mainstream and have gained the interest of non-vegetarians as well. Restaurants who are great at cooking greens have been commended by their customers who ‘don’t taste the difference’ when they have a taste of their vegetarian dishes. Though it does read as something positive, it can also be a negative in the sense that they’re not catering to develop the palate of their customers if they can hardly taste the vegetable’s taste. Contrary to your kid’s taste buds might suggest, not all vegetables taste the same, and they add a much-needed spice in dishes.
Vegetables are often relegated to garnish such as parsley and rosemary, but that’s not the full extent of their presence in cooking. Pasta is an excellent mix for vegetables with pesto and spinach as delicious ingredients to spice up the sauce and the meat included in the sauce. Greens can even be served on their own in the likes of grilled and buttered broccoli or smoked asparagus.
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