As part of their new Chef Shortcuts series The Huffington Post has sat down with the Brazilian chef Alex Atala to ask him for one of his top shortcuts in the kitchen.
Atala's advice centre on how to cook soft vegetables such as green peas and asparagus and is rooted in a technique the chef discovered in the 19th Century French cookbook Cusine Bourgeoise.
The shortcut involves baking you chosen vegetables in the oven but first hollowing out an iceberg lettuce and cooking the vegetables inside the lettuce.
This technique helps to keep the vegetable wonderful and moist while helping them retain a great crispness and crunch that standard boiling techniques would kill.
There's a whole range of instructions in the post that will show you exactly how you can cook your vegetables like Alex Atala.