If you, or someone you’re feeding, grew up with bland, mushy veg, it can feel impossible to nudge these experiences out of the way in time for dinner.

The truth is, often such reluctance isn’t only about taste; it’s tied to emotional memories, particularly if people have faced shame or pressure around food in the past.

But as someone who’s just spent 100 episodes of television unpicking food hang-ups, many of them veg-related, I’m here to tell you that this can and should be done.

Because vegetables can be great! But you have to start by unlearning everything you know about how to cook them. And when in doubt, it never hurts to add something creamy and/or salty, like cheese, or tahini, or plain butter!

Here are new ways to try some of the trickiest veg at home.

Brussels sprouts

Sprouts are basically baby cabbages, and though that’s traditionally meant boiling or steaming them until they’re greige, and farty compounds have enveloped the kitchen, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Boiling these babies does them no favours from a flavour or nutrition perspective. The sulphur-based (read: farty) compounds are great for your gut. Ensure they end up there, rather than in the cooking water, by going one of two ways: fast and hot or keeping them raw.

For fast and hot, crank your oven to 200C fan-forced (or 220C conventional) with the tray preheating inside. Cut the Brussels sprouts in half and season and oil them. Then spread them out on the hot tray, cut-side down, and roast them for about 12 minutes, or until the outsides are blistered and the insides are soft.

For raw, shred and then cure them in lemon juice and salt to mitigate any bitterness, then dress with plenty of olive or macadamia oil and finish with something creamy like a cloud of parmesan or shaved macadamia to keep it planty.

Beetroot

Beetroot used to be met with complaints about a “dirty” flavour, but that’s been bred out of many modern varieties, with extra sweetness bred in. To unlock even more syrupiness, roast the beets as you would a jacket potato, on a relatively high heat, from a cold oven start (this helps to prevent the outside from overcooking before the inside is done).

Wash and scrub medium beets (no need to peel), then season and oil and foil each beet individually, or pop smaller oiled beets into the holes of a muffin tin and cover the lot with foil. Then crank the oven to 200C fan-forced (220C conventional) and roast the beets for an hour or so, depending on the size.

Once they’re soft through to the middle, allow them to cool. Then slip the skins off and slice into wedges over labne, or slash and serve like a jacket potato with something creamy on top.

Peas

The problem with peas is that they suffer from outdated PR. Though naturally super sweet when picked, pea sugars start converting to starch immediately, so if you associate peas with chalkiness, that’s probably why.

If it’s a flavour thing, modern peas have been bred sweeter than ever.

However, unless you’re buying peas in peak season or growing them (which is surprisingly easy-peasy to do), your best bet is to grab a bag from the freezer aisle, as these have been snap-frozen at the farm, retaining more sweetness.

You can fake a sweeter pea with a tiny pinch of sugar, and lock in the vibrant green with a pinch of bicarb. I usually blanch them for a minute less than the packet suggests, and then let the residual heat do the rest – that saves me having to give them an ice bath.

And if you’re adding peas to a dish such as pasta, there’s no need to boil a second pot of water – just plonk them into the vigorously boiling pasta pot with three or so minutes to go, then drain the lot.

Eggplant

When eggplant first hit Europe from India via Arab merchants, people didn’t know what to do with it. It even earned the name melanzane (crazy apple) in Italian, a nod to its botanical kinship with toxic, hallucinogenic nightshades such as belladonna.

Like belladonna and chilli, another nightshade, eggplant has evolved some nifty ways to avoid being eaten. This can present as astringency, bitterness, and/or a biteyness on the tongue like pineapple. All of these can be alleviated with proper seasoning.

Salting eggplant breaks down its cell structure, drawing out excess moisture, which makes it easier to fry. It also transforms any astringency into a creamier mouthfeel. While it softens the eggplant’s bite, much like time mellows a sharp personality, it’s a step you can skip entirely if you’re roasting or braising.

Eggplant needs longer in the oven or pan than most other vegetables. Depending on its size, it may take 15-35 minutes to roast, and at least 10 to fry.

Mushrooms

“Don’t wash your mushrooms!” It’s common kitchen wisdom, often delivered with the warning that water will “ruin their flavour”. While rinsing mushrooms won’t strip them of their taste, the advice stems from a more practical concern: achieving a beautiful sear and preventing soggy results.

When you put wet mushrooms in a hot pan with butter or oil, the moisture gets locked in by the fat and can’t evaporate. You end up with wet mushrooms that don’t get a chance to brown and caramelise.

But chef and mycologist Jim Fuller, co-founder of the mushroom-based meat replacement company Fable, introduced me to the Wet Fry method, which changes everything.

He recommends washing mushrooms as needed, then cranking the heat under a pan, adding the mushrooms with a splash more water and seasoning, and bringing the mushrooms to a boil. When all the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms have softened, THEN add fat and flavourings to finish the dish. Result: silky, umami-rich mushies every time.