Carrot

I love any dish that can be made using water rather than stock. It’s a bit of useful laziness that can help establish the clean, pure flavor of the ingredient itself, whether it’s carrots or clams. One key is a slow, patient approach to cooking (or “sweating”) the onions and garlic, creating sweetness and depth. Homemade curry powder keeps well for a few weeks and warms up deviled eggs, beef stew, or hot buttered popcorn.

If Big Bob Gibson was nowhere to be found at the restaurant, there was a good chance he would be on the lake or in the woods. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed not only hunting and fishing, but also cooking his catch. He passed this love of the outdoors on to his kids, especially Cotton, who would leave for the family hunting camp in mid-October and return home in February. As word spread of Big Bob’s smoked venison with white sauce, hunters started dropping their fresh deer meat by the restaurant to have it cooked. During hunting season, venison appeared with regularity on the pits. This dish, similar to a large pot roast with chunks of tender vegetables, is a favorite of local hunters. To this day, the rich aroma of venison can sometimes be smelled in the kitchens of Big Bib Gibson Bar-B-Q, especially during the fall and winter months of hunting season.

We rely on this little carrot salad over and over to add color, sweetness, and crunch to many meals. It’s even prettier topped with fresh raspberries. (See photo)

Made ahead and warmed up just before serving, these glazed carrots retain their color and flavor beautifully. A splash of lemon juice cuts the sweetness just a bit.

This sauté makes an attractive and satisfying supper; chilled, it makes a delicious side dish or salad. (See photo)

We surprised ourselves with how good this smoked coleslaw is. This is the vinegary kind of coleslaw, as opposed to one made with mayonnaise. We wanted some smoky flavor and didn’t want to smoke the sausage, so we targeted the slaw instead, and a star was born. Whether you’re adventurous in the kitchen or not, try this one. It’s not hard to do, even without a smoker. Just set a rack inside an aluminum pan, and place wood chips beneath the rack (or tea leaves—they will burn readily and add a nice dimension to the smoked flavor).

My sister Joanne was once a major disciple of Susan Powter, author of the “Stop the Insanity” series and the face that launched a trillion potato recipes. We McKenna girls eagerly adopted her fat-free mantra “One slice of cheese or ten baked potatoes?!” and happily toted Molly McButtered bagels to school each day. We even developed our own carrot muffin that had less than 1 gram of fat. Of course, over time, counting fat grams on the hour tends to incite insanity rather than stop it. Today everyone knows that good fats in the right amount are a beneficial part of your diet. This recipe makes no pretense of being fat-free, but it’s got all the best stuff in all the right places.

Root vegetables are particularly forgiving when it comes to roasting times: Slightly undercooked and they have a little extra firmness, while on the other hand it takes quite a while to overcook them to the mushiness point. So this recipe is one of my main choices when I’m preparing an entrée that’s going to require stovetop attention at the end of cooking. While I’m reducing a sauce or sautéing some veal, I don’t want to worry that I’ll need to remove the veggies from the oven at precisely 7:15. And with this recipe, I don’t.

Note that the ingredients here are something of a hodgepodge: potato and sweet potato, zucchini and carrot, onion and bell pepper. That’s because this is a pretty loose recipe, and you should feel free to substitute whatever you prefer. Just be sure to cut any vegetables to roughly the same size, to ensure that they’re all fully cooked—but not overcooked—at the same time.

Primavera is Italian for “spring,” and that’s what this dish tastes like. It was created at Le Cirque, New York’s famed restaurant, in the 1970s because some high-flying and health-conscious patrons complained that they wanted lighter and healthier dishes. The original version was labor-intensive because you had to not only dice all the vegetables, but also blanch them in different pots. My version cuts out the blanching, and instead you roast the vegetables and end up with a sweet, caramelized, intensely flavored bite. Consider doubling the recipe; it only gets better the next day.

Intimidated by roasting and carving a whole chicken? This dish is just as aromatic and comforting, but is a lot easier to handle and serve. Everything cooks together in one pan, including the sauce.

I’ve made this a lot. Even though it’s completely vegetarian, it tastes very full-bodied and complex, with a deep, winy flavor that even meat-lovers will enjoy. I serve it often when I am cooking for a crowd and don’t know how many vegetarians may be in the group.

In Venice you’ll find this soup in nearly every restaurant, and every version is a little bit different. I use two kinds of beans because I like the different textures each contributes: the cannellini are creamy while the garbanzos (chickpeas) have a slightly firmer bite. The final herb sauce brightens and freshens the long-cooked flavors. You can substitute any mild white fish for the snapper, but try to keep the fillets whole as the soup cooks. I always feel if I’ve spent the money for a beautiful piece of fish, I want people to see it, not just find tiny flakes throughout the soup.

I made this for an après-ski menu on Everyday Italian. It is quite hearty and the beans give it nice body without making it too thick. The whipped cream garnish is beautiful and becomes even more fragrant as it slowly melts into the soup.