Sautéed Green Vegetables

Method

1. Wash all the vegetables, separate, and peel them. 2. Prepare a container for cooking with high sides and a thick bottom. 3. Victoria recommends cleaning the green beans by removing the strings and ends – once you take hold of one end, the string will come along. Remove this fiber and finish cleaning the beans by breaking off the other end. 4. Break the broccoli into florets. 5. Cut the zucchini into large rings or squares; do not peel the skin. 6. Wash the spinach leaves and, if they are too large, tear them into smaller pieces. 7. Place the cooking container (e.g. a sauté pan) on the stove and add olive oil, heating it up. 8. Finely chop the leek and shallot (or white salad onion) into rings or half-rings, then place them in the pan and sauté. After that, reduce the heat. 9. Add the butter. 10. Sauté the onions with the butter for about 2 minutes, then pour in the white wine and let it evaporate. 11. Now add the vegetables: the cooking time for each vegetable should be al dente, so don’t plan on cooking this dish for hours. It will only take about 20 minutes. 12. Start with the green beans – add them to the already fragrant onions and sauté for about 2 minutes, then add the broccoli, green peas, and zucchini, one by one. 13. Dedicate no more than 3 minutes to each vegetable. 14. Once all the vegetables are in the pan, gently and thoroughly stir them, season with salt and pepper to taste. 15. Simmer for another 3-4 minutes, then cover for two minutes. 16. Meanwhile, roughly chop the green basil. 17. Sprinkle it over the finished dish and, if you have some hard Parmesan in the fridge, add a few shavings to enhance the flavor.

The dish in the photograph was cooked by the restaurant for this story. Photo: Oleksandr Slyadnyev.