Vegetarian

Chilled Rice Salad with Avocado, Tomatoes and Black Beans Who says white rice isn't healthy? Just look at the nutrient profile of this dish, and you'll surely change your mind. This chilled rice salad is chockfull of veggies, loaded with flavor, and a nice source of fiber and contributes valuable heart-healthy fats to the diet. Plus, it looks beautiful on the table! In particular, this dish is a favorite among the teenage girls in my household because, I am told, "It makes us feel healthy!" Who can argue with that? When you purchase the sun-dried tomatoes, choose those packed in olive oil, because you'll use the oil in the recipe. The rice salad will last 3 days in the refrigerator and makes a delicious lunch or summery dinner.

"Set sun-dried tomatoes on paper towels to soak up some of their oil so the dish doesn't get greasy," Bemis suggests.

"This looks impressive, but it's simple to whip up," Bemis says. "It goes great with crusty bread and champagne."

"I spend most of late summer picking these veggies," Bemis says. "I have to get creative to keep up. The pesto makes this combo so refreshing."

This bright, vegetarian sauce features lemon three ways: juice, zest, and preserved lemon peel.

Curried Potatoes and Spinach in Naan The flavors of Indian food are magical. They dance on your tongue, and the spice blends transform basic meat and vegetable dishes. Those spices also contribute to good health. Curcumin, a compound in curry, may have the power to lower breast cancer risk. Turmeric, another component of curry and nicknamed the "spice of life," may treat inflammatory diseases and protect our brain as we age. This Indian-inspired alternative to the standard sandwich will get you refueled in no time! Rich in protein and complex carbohydrates and packed with nearly a day's worth of vitamin A, this meal is complemented perfectly by a cooling cucumber-yogurt sauce. You could also serve this for supper, paired with a nice carrot-ginger or lentil soup.

We love using preserved lemons in the BA kitchen, and Philip Krajeck's recipe makes the best we've ever tasted. They take 10 minutes to prep and need only two weeks to cure. Sure, you can buy preserved lemons at specialty stores, but when the end result is this good, we say make your own.

To ensure the snow-white color of this soup, don't let the onions brown.

An invigorating hit of citrus brings together crisp apples, toasty bread and nuts, and sharp cheese, making this one of our favorite recipes this year.

This dish is called misticanza ("mixed greens") on the Ava Gene's menu. You can sauté whatever leafy greens you like or happen to have on hand; it's an ideal way to use up those slightly past their prime.

Browning the farro imbues it with a nutty flavor—a step you can add any time you prepare the grain.

I call this hapa food. The term hapa is deliciously slippery. It is often used to describe mixed-race Japanese Americans but not always. For me, being hapa provides a way of claiming a whole racial and ethnic identity as opposed to thinking of myself as "just" or "only" half-and-half. I am a whole person, and my experience of race, culture, and nationality is more complicated than adding fractions. This dish did not emerge from a place of separation in which two disparate things were fused together, but rather from the co-constitution, interdependence, and wholeness of my life as a hapa growing peaches in the United States and cooking food from my multiple cultural and racial lineages that go far beyond this country¿s borders. I have learned to make and cook my own path. Biting into this treat is like unleashing a burst of glowing peach wrapped in a crunchy cocoon. This could be served as a side dish with other tempura, on top of a salad, or even with green tea ice cream and chile-infused honey as a dessert. When we step outside of rigid categories, possibilities are infinite, no? --Nikiko

Typically steamed or sautéed, fresh mustard greens are also great raw and simply dressed. "I like the strength they give to salads," says de Pue.

Sweet from dates, sour from lemon, bitter from celery, and salty from Parmesan, this humble salad manages to get all taste buds firing at once.

McFadden always dresses his salads with the acidic components first so the produce can absorb some of those flavors before being coated with oil.

Toasting grains and seeds is a simple move that adds texture and deep flavor to this green salad. The dressing will be milder if you use fresh horseradish, or sharp and a tad spicy if you use prepared.

Briny feta is pickled, then tossed with plump olives and strawberries for a bright, juicy salad. Since the feta needs five days to cure in the fridge, this is a great make-ahead dish. Use Greek feta if you want neat cubes; Bulgarian feta is divine, but it needs to be handled carefully as it's very soft and crumbly. Whip up this recipe for a picnic, or serve it after a day on the beach when salt and sun are still on everyone's mind. Glasses of Prosecco or Saison are a perfect accompaniment.

I began making frittatas regularly when our family transitioned from the pancakes-or-waffles-every-weekend phase into more "grown-up" breakfasts. As in much of my cooking, I believe I first learned to make a frittata from Julia Child, in one of her books or her television shows. You can whip up a frittata for any meal: for a weekend breakfast, or with a green salad for lunch, or supper. The frizzled leeks are inspired by a dish served at Union Square Cafe in its early years. It was the first time I saw the word "frizzled." "Fun word," I thought, and asked Danny Meyer where it came from. "My grandmother. Louise Meyer used to serve mashed potatoes with fried onions on top," he said. "When we opened Union Square Cafe in 1985, we substituted rutabaga for the potatoes, and leeks for the onions. That became our 'Mashed Turnips with Frizzled Leeks.' To avoid using the word 'fried,' I landed upon 'frizzled.' After that, frizzled leeks found their way onto everything from mashed potatoes to scallops, an omelet, red snapper, and just about everything except for ice cream." If you don't have leeks, then thinly sliced onions, pan-roasted asparagus tips, crisped bacon all work fine. Concerning culinary substitution, I think of the Russian proverb that my grandpa Jan would trot out about many things in life: "If no fish, then lobster will do." Apparently, lobster prices under the czar were less steep than they are in present-day America, but I took his point. As I noted earlier, Parmesan cheese has a lot of umami, which contributes to the high FPC of this recipe, especially when I top the finished frittata with some cherry tomatoes charred at high heat and pepped up with crushed red-pepper flakes.

Ready in no time, this chunky and spicy soup requires very little cleanup.