Culinary subterfuge. That’s the latest tactic to get kids (and finicky eaters with mortgages) to eat their vegetables. I’m sure you’ve heard all the buzz about Jessica Seinfeld’s Deliciously Deceptive, which suggests disguising vegetables so they’re undetectable to the veggie-unwilling.

I’m with food writer Mark Kurlansky (“Cod,” “Salt”) who argues against this approach in his essay in this month’s Bon Appetit magazine. Instead of trickery, he encourages parents to "celebrate vegetables for their place in nature."

Having grown up on tasteless, texture-less frozen vegetables in easy-breezy boil pouches, I know all too well why this country has been afraid of vegetables for nearly a century. I had my first taste of fresh broccoli when I was 18—and had no idea what I had been missing!

If we want the future of this country to embrace fresh fruits and vegetables, we need to quit the flavor masquerade. Let’s cool it with the cheese sauce and added sugars and let their virtues speak for themselves. But how can we cook the goods without the junk and make them impossible to refuse?

Start right here, with this irresistible broccoli trick. Broccoli florets get lathered up with a zesty seasoning mix of fresh ginger, garlic and a smidge of cayenne for heat.  Into a hot oven they go and roast in about 10 minutes, while you check your email or contemplate the meaning of life.

Everyone who tries my roasted broccoli can’t seem to get enough. Last fall while promoting my cookbook, A Mighty Appetite for the Holidays, I’d whip up batches of broccoli for signing nibbles, and it was always the first thing to go. My mother, a die-hard frozen veg queen, is a now roasted broccoli convert because she saw how easy it is to prepare. And you too, in just 15 short minutes, will make the best broccoli you’ll ever come to know.

Roasted Broccoli Pick-Up Sticks
From “A Mighty Appetite for the Holidays” by Kim O’Donnel

Ingredients
1 pound broccoli florets, separated
1 inch-piece fresh ginger root, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne or paprika
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
black pepper to taste

Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl. With your hands, mix to combine until broccoli is well coated. Place broccoli on a baking sheet and into the oven.

Roast until fork tender (about 12 minutes). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes four side-dish servings or 12-15 cocktail party servings.