Celebrate the fresh flavors of summer vegetables with three easy-to-prepare, five ingredients or less vegetable side dishes.

What better way to share the bounty of your garden (or a farmer's market, for that matter) than to prepare some healthy vegetable side dishes? Our recipes below feature fresh summer vegetables that can be prepared in under 30 minutes and use five or less ingredients.

RECIPES

Sauteed Snap Peas with Radishes and Onions

Serves 4

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 pound sugar snap peas, strings removed

1 small onion, cut into small pieces

6 radishes, cut into wedges

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1. In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the snap peas, and cook, tossing frequently, until the peas just begin to soften, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the onion pieces and radishes; season the vegetables to taste with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until the radishes begin to soften and the snap peas are slightly tender, but still crisp, about 2 minutes more. Serve.

Fresh Garden Vegetable Medley

Serves 6

4 medium zucchini, julienned

6 ears fresh corn, husked and removed from the cob

1 carrot, grated

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

In the top of a vegetable steamer, steam the zucchini and the corn together for about 3 minutes, until the zucchini is crisp, but still tender. Transfer the mixture to a serving dish and toss with the carrot, butter, and thyme. Serve.

Sauteed Zucchini with Dill

Serves 4

2 medium zucchini, halved crosswise, then cut lengthwise into 1 1/2-inch-thick pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon dried dill

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the zucchini, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the zucchini is slightly crisp but still tender and beginning to brown slightly, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the lemon juice and the dill. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute more. Serve.

Roasted Tomatoes

Makes 24 slices

8 large tomatoes

4 tablespoons coarse salt

3 tablespoons freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Heat the oven to 250 degrees F. Slice the tomatoes thickly, yielding about three slices per tomato. Eat or discard the ends. Place the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

2. Mix together the salt, pepper and sugar. Brush the tomatoes with the olive oil and sprinkle a large pinch of the salt mixture on each tomato.

3. Roast for three hours, until the tomatoes have become almost dry. You can also roast the tomatoes for two hours, then turn off the oven, and leave the tomatoes in the oven overnight.

Here's the follow-up discussion on this article:

View all related messages

Post to this discussion

For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Michael Vyskocil's Recipes topic, please visit the Discussions page.