Though we’ve tried to come up with techniques that make cooking almost anything faster, some vegetables just take longer than others. To make quick cooking on the fly easier, think about dividing the produce section of your supermarket into what’s fast to cook and what’s not. Like this:
QUICKER
Asparagus
Bean sprouts
Bell peppers
Broccoli florets
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower florets
Corn
Eggplant
Fennel
Green beans
Mushrooms
Onions
Radishes
Shelled peas
Sugar snap peas
Summer (or yellow) squash
Tomatoes
Zucchini
SLOWER
Beets
Broccoli stems
Carrots
Celeriac
Parsnips
Potatoes
Rutabaga
Sweet potatoes
Turnips
Winter squash, like butternut or acorn squash
Yucca
However, here are three qualifications:
1. Most quick-cooking vegetables can also be eaten raw—the fastest cooking method of all!
2. Some quick-cooking vegetables, like mushrooms, tomatoes, and fennel, can also benefit from prolonged cooking to become sweeter and more flavorful.
3. Most long-cooking vegetables can cook quickly if they are cut into very small pieces. For example, carrots, sliced into paper-thin coins or shredded through the large holes of a box grater, can be added to many a quick sauté.