How to cook: Steamed greens

The amount and type of vegetable depends on family size, personal taste, whether using them as part of a main meal, in a salad, or as a complete meal.

Instructions

For a mixed platter, choose from broccoli, courgettes, fresh green beans, leeks, brussels sprouts, cabbage and spinach, or choose your own vegetable mix.

Wash the vegetables and shake off any excess water. Cut the vegetables into even-sized pieces so that they are tender at the same time. Divide the broccoli into even-sized florets. Strip the cleaned spinach leaves from the stalks. Place in 1 or 2 tiers of the steamer and put on the lid.

Sit the steamer over boiling water, making sure no steam escapes around the edges. Steam for about 5-7 minutes - the less time, the crisper the greens. Root vegetables like potatoes, kumara, carrot and pumpkin take slightly longer to cook so start them before adding the greens.

Quick ideas:

• Serve the quickly steamed vegetables plain to accompany meat or fish.
• Use a green medley of vegetables as a starter with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
• Try Asian-style with a little oyster sauce and sweet chilli sauce.
• Turn lightly steamed spinach into a beautiful bright green pesto-like sauce for pasta (see 'Green Sauce for Pasta' recipe) - even the most dedicated spinach-haters won't know what they are eating.

What you need to know:

• Buy and cook your greens as fresh as possible, and store in the refrigerator. Don't store too long before using and eat as soon as they are cooked.
• Different vegetables, cut in roughly even sizes, will cook to crisp tender at the same time when you steam a mix together.
• Asparagus, beans, broccoli, spinach and silver beet are good sources of antioxidants and all steam well.
• Herbs are an excellent source of antioxidants, and add a flavour boost to many plain vegetables. We all know about mint with potatoes, so experiment with parsley or chives chopped over steamed courgettes, and adjust the amount of basil in the spinach sauce to suit your taste.

Types of steamers:

• There are a few different types of steamers available. The Chinese bamboo steamers are practical and inexpensive - you can get these from Chinese supermarkets or kitchen shops.
• Sometimes I steam in a metal steamer with overlapping sides and little metal legs to hold the steamer out of the water, or a special double steamer saucepan. Many saucepan sets come with these.
• Both bamboo and metal work well but I do love the flexibility of the traditional bamboo steamers.