Parental Advisory: This is steamy material...

Among the options available to a chef, steaming is perhaps the most excellent way to cook vegetables. This gentle cooking method seals in nutrients and flavor by using the steam from a pot of boiling water. The vegetables never touch the water--instead they're suspended by a steamer which holds the vegetables above the boiling water.

Nearly foolproof in its operation, a steamer costs a tiny fraction of a microwave, cooks almost as fast with many vegetables, and according to some nutritional experts, is much healthier to use than a microwave. If those reasons aren't enough, here's the icing on the cake--steaming leaves you virtually no clean-up.

Served with a little lemon, olive oil, and freshly ground black pepper, you'll be amazed how delicious steamed vegetables are on a bed of rice (see 0569 Make Rice for the scoop on rice). Or be a little extravagant and make a fancier sauce with a roux (see 0574 Make a Roux for details).

Before you begin

If you don't have a steamer, finding a stainless steel one is probably easiest. They're inexpensive and they work very dependably. Some nutritional experts encourage the use of ceramic or bamboo steamers, saying that these materials are more suitable for steaming. Nonetheless, steel steamers do a fine job.

Plan the meal first: decide what vegetable(s) you'll be preparing, what order they need to be steamed (if you're cooking more than one kind), and what sauce or seasonings will accompany the vegetables. If you plan first, you'll know what to do when it's time to act.