I grow some in spring and autumn\overwinter in the unheated greenhouse. Hot weather and dryness makes them bolt. They are fast to grow, so you are best sowing little and often. If I had a poly tunnel, I would grow loads.
I currently have 4 decent sized pots on the go that were sown last autumn. They are going to seed now, so final harvest and dumping them into the compost is imminent. I've been picking leaves most of the winter, so I have had my money's worth. Once the worst of the weather is over, I'll re-sow for a catch crop in spring.
As for using them, well stir-fry as DHM says and I put them in noodle soups, but it depends if you like eating that sort of thing. I love both and would happily eat them for lunch daily, but if you are more a 'meat and potatoes' kind of chap, the following might be easier as an intro. You could put them as a side dish for chicken, or fish or even a chop.
Version 1 - steam your veg for 5 minutes and dress. Do a teaspoon each of soy sauce, oyster sauce and a bland oil for hot dressed veg. 1 teaspoon each of a mild vinegar (I use rice vinegar, but white white or cider vinegar would do), soy sauce and sesame oil (or olive as a sub) for a room temperature salad like dish.
Version 2 - stir fry onion\spring onion\garlic\ginger\chilli - the combination is your choice - add your veg, then you need some liquid to braise in, so add a splash of stock, some soy sauce and if you like, some oyster sauce. Cook for a few minutes.
All the oriental veg cook very quickly and it is that tender, but still slightly crispy texture you are after. Over cooked is mush. If I don't have oriental veg to hand, I do cook other stuff this way - broccoli, cauliflower, most types of greens, cabbage, green beans, peppers ... the list goes on. You just cook a bit longer for the harder veggies. You could invest in a couple of sauces and try to see if you like the flavours of this sort of cooking before dedicating growing space to the veg