Carrot

This homemade broth has a mildly sweet flavor. Any leftover broth can be frozen for up to three months.

Ribollita is a classic Tuscan soup that's made up of vegetable soup mixed with pieces of rustic bread. This version is packed with veggies—white beans, kale, chard, potatoes, tomatoes—and served with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

It does not get cozier than this hearty dish. Yes, you’ll make your own gnocchi. And yes, it’s totally worth the effort.

Bison (a.k.a. buffalo) is available at some natural foods stores, specialty foods stores, and farmers' markets.

Borscht is one of those soups that has dozens of variations. This version of the classic Russian beet soup uses lots of vegetables and a touch of bacon for extra flavor. You can leave the bacon out and use vegetable broth if you prefer a vegetarian soup. Grating the beets into the soup releases maximum beet flavor. Though this recipe calls for the borscht to be served hot, it is also delicious when served cold.

Cassoulet is a robust meal, filled with cured and smoked meats and sausages, baked in a stew of beans until a rich crust forms. According to tradition, the cook repeatedly breaks the crust and pushes it down into the stew.

This speedy, savory meal pairs well with a workout. Quinoa is an unexpected source of energizing iron and amino acids, protein's building blocks, to nourish newly toned muscles. Body bonus: Potassium in the grain can help beat bloat.

Vietnamese hybrid sandwiches called banh mi are great for lunch or a casual dinner.

A tagine is a Moroccan stew. In this version, tender beef meatballs are braised with vegetables, then served over herbed couscous.

Bodino Stifado Me Praso Braises like this are perfect for meat with tough muscle tissue and tendons (which come from the part of the animal that works hard), a great example of poverty cooking. This less expensive cut of meat develops its own natural and luscious sauce as it cooks. You want a little marbling in the meat, because it melts down as you cook and adds a lot of flavor to the sauce. You can use brisket, shanks, shoulder—all fairly tough meats—but save the filet mignon for the grill or a pan. It takes a little time to cook and become tender, but it's a relatively easy setup, and once you get it onto the stove you don't have to worry about it for about an hour. So you can do your laundry, or walk the dog, or make a salad. A couple of days later, if you have any leftovers, you can shred the meat, then return the meat to the sauce and add your favorite pasta. The resulting dish is a Greek version of beef Stroganoff. The herbs are very important to the flavor development here, since I'm using water instead of stock, so use fresh herbs if possible.

Grated lemon peel brightens up this light and satisfying pasta, which makes delicious use of root vegetables.

Look for carrots and parsnips that are about two inches in diameter at their thickest point; you don't want them to be too big or too slender.

Carrots, braised in chicken broth and combined with shallots and fresh herbs, make a beautiful addition to the table, especially when you take advantage of the different-colored varieties found at farmers markets. You will also appreciate how small amounts of seasonings turn a taken-for-granted vegetable into something splendid. Don't reserve the recipe just for Thanksgiving; it would also be delicious with pork chops or a roast chicken.

Look no further for a go-to recipe when making vegetarian stews and gravies. The stock here gets its deep flavor and color from roasting the vegetables and then deglazing the pan with red wine.

An irresistible vegetarian main course can take a little extra love and time, but food editor Melissa Roberts would be the first person to tell you it's worth it. Fortunately, all the components of this shepherd's pie—from the heady vegetable stew with its red wine gravy to the crown of fluffy mashed potatoes and celery root—can be made ahead. Protein-rich seitan (pronounced "SAY-tan," it's sometimes labeled "wheat gluten") has long been used as a meat substitute by Asian cooks, who know how to coax the most out of its satisfyingly chewy texture. Seitan doesn't have a strong taste of its own, but it soaks up the flavors of whatever it's cooked with.

The following carrot cake perfectly illustrates the evolution of baking techniques over the last hundred years. Prior to 1850 in Europe, the leavening of baked goods depended on yeast or sour milk and baking soda. Cream of tartar was another possibility but was imported from Italy. With the invention of baking powder or monocalcium phosphate in the United States in 1869, immigrant Eastern European women quickly learned new ways to make cakes. Prior to the advent of baking powder, this particular cake was probably denser than it is today. The eggs may have been separated and the whites beaten stiff, with cream of tartar added, to make the cake rise a bit higher. The cream cheese frosting is certainly a twentieth-century addition.