Vegetarian

Of the three types of meringue, Swiss meringue is perhaps the easiest for the home cook to master. This recipe is by no means as simple as the Easy Chocolate Buttercream on page 432, but it is a good next step on the way to more involved icings such as Italian meringue. You begin by combining egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl and then whisking them over a pan of simmering water. Because the heat is more gentle, you won’t have to use a candy thermometer. Once the sugar has melted, and the egg whites are warm, the bowl is transferred to an electric-mixer stand and the mixture whipped to stiff peaks. When the mixture is completely cool, softened butter is beaten in piece by piece, to create a silky smooth icing. It is ultrarich and delicious, and can be used on cakes that run the gamut from homespun to oh-so-fancy.

Winter squash makes a very beautiful, fine-textured puree, and there is no need to strain it to finish.

To preserve their bright green color, the peas are shocked in an ice-water bath after boiling. You can skip this step if desired, but the puree will not have the same vibrancy. Frozen peas can be substituted for fresh; boil them for two minutes.

Because of their denser texture, root vegetables can be simmered in water instead of milk, then pureed with milk (or cream) and butter.

This rich yet airy, velvety sauce is made by enriching an acidic liquid with egg yolks and then thickening with butter. Here, we used a wine reduction, but you can skip that step and simply whisk eggs with 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 1/4 cup boiling water. As one of the French “mother sauces,” its preparation is a basic culinary technique that can be varied to create other sauces in the same family (often referred to as “warm emulsions”). By changing the acidic liquid to blood orange juice and zest, you get sauce Maltaise, typically served over steamed asparagus; tangerine juice and zest flavor Mikado sauce. Perhaps the best-known variation is Béarnaise, a traditional accompaniment for steak. To make it, prepare the hollandaise as directed, adding tarragon (the defining flavor of Béarnaise) to the reduction mixture. As it is designed to demonstrate, the method is the key to making the sauce, not the specific ingredients used to give it flavor. When making hollandaise or any of its variations, using gentle heat is critical to achieving the right consistency. The best—and classic—way to do this is to “cook” it in a bain marie, or hot-water bath, instead of directly over a burner.

This recipe produces a puree that is smooth and creamy without adding any heavy cream. Instead, the vegetables are boiled in milk and then pureed with some of the reserved cooking liquid, resulting in a side dish with a pure vegetable taste. When pureeing in a blender, add only enough liquid to keep the blade spinning freely. The fennel puree is delicious with the seared scallops on page 260. It can also be thinned with some of the strained cooking liquid to form a soup.

Infusing liquid—cream, milk, or stock can all be used in this recipe—with herbs is a simple yet effective way to add depth of flavor to purees and other preparations (see the gratin on page 320). Garlic is a complementary flavor for potatoes; we boiled the cloves along with the potatoes to mellow their flavor, but you can use Oven-Poached Garlic instead (page 306). For a lighter-bodied puree, replace the cream with milk or stock, or use a combination. For a richer puree, reduce 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream by half, then infuse with herbs.

The squash filling in the recipe can be replaced with virtually any precooked vegetables you like. You can also omit the goat cheese and sprinkle on more grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago, or use Gruyère cheese instead.

Unlike most other vegetables, tomatoes release a lot of moisture as they cook, so there’s no need to completely submerge them in the oil (or added liquid). It is this “cooking in its own juices” that makes this dish a “confit” (see page 232). Because this technique cooks out most of the moisture from the vegetables, it concentrates the sugars, for a sweet, jamlike condiment to serve with roasted, grilled, or sautéed meats (such as the calf’s liver on page 253). While the confit cooks, stir very gently, or the tomatoes and onions may fall apart.

For this method, garlic is poached with oil, which becomes infused with the flavor of garlic and thyme. When lightly pressed, the cloves will pop out of their peels, and can be served with crusty bread, or spread onto the pastry shell of a savory tart before filling and baking. The oil can then be drizzled over vegetables before roasting, used in vinaigrettes or marinades, or brushed on crostini.

In this recipe, the eggs are paired with a heady sauté of shallots and morels—wild mushrooms prized in French cuisine for their distinctive taste and rarity (they grow largely in areas recently stricken with forest fires). They are in season during the spring months; substitute other wild mushrooms, such as oysters or chanterelles, if morels are unavailable.

In this classic French first course, the vegetables are first poached, then marinated in vinaigrette. For deeper flavor, the vegetables can be braised in stock instead of poached. The leeks are especially delicious when garnished with sieved egg yolk (called “mimosa” for its resemblance to the golden flower and most often used with asparagus). The leeks can also be combined with other components to create an elegant composed salad, such as the one on page 312.

Potatoes are boiled for all sorts of reasons: to make mashed potatoes, or to slice or quarter for salads. But they are also delicious as is, as demonstrated by this simple side dish. The best potatoes for boil-and-serve are waxy types such as red potatoes or fingerlings; they will hold their shape better than starchy russets.

Coddling, which in cooking terms means to heat food in water that is just below the boiling point, is a gentle steaming method that yields a tender egg. The traditional way to prepare and serve these eggs is in coddlers—special cups with tight lids that trap in steam when the cups are placed in a pan of simmering water. Buttering the coddlers and adding a bit of heavy cream impart richness. For a garnish, sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs, such as fines herbes (a mix of chives, chervil, parsley, and tarragon), finely diced red onion, or crumbled bacon. Soldiers (toasted bread cut into batons) are the traditional—and sole—accompaniment.

Buy the freshest vegetables available and only during their peak season. The ones here are at their best in mid-to late summer.

Wilted spinach can be served on its own, dressed with oil and vinegar and seasoned with salt and pepper, or quickly warmed in a pan with olive oil, slivered garlic, and red pepper flakes. But it is also commonly used as a component of another dish; here it is mixed with a rich béchamel sauce to make the classic accompaniment to steaks and chops.

This three-egg omelet is strewn with fresh herbs for the simplest of fillings. See the variations below for other ideas. If you’d like an omelet with a bit more heft, add another egg.

The key to perfect whipped cream is to have the cream and bowl very cold, especially when beating by hand.

Steaming is the classic way to cook globe artichokes. Their leaves become very tender and perfect for dipping one by one into melted butter (this one is flavored with fresh tarragon). The artichokes would also be delicious with Hollandaise Sauce (page 96), or crème fraîche and caviar.