Vegetarian

Eggplant is everywhere in the Middle East; you see it as often as you do tomatoes. Here are three takes on a creamy, mild dish of eggplant and yogurt. The first relies on the charred flavor you get when you grill or broil eggplant; especially when seasoned this way, it’s really the best. The variations are easier and still very good. As always, small eggplants are best; regardless of size, they should be as firm as you can find.

A beauty—mild, soothing, and delicious. Be sure to use waxy (“new”) potatoes, which will not fall apart. As with the other tarts in this chapter, this is best warm or at room temperature and may be prepared without any crust at all. If you’re using a crust, the recipe will take less time if you have a premade crust.

A great way to handle good tomatoes that are not perfectly ripe and a great way to convert tomatoes to a cooked vegetable without much trouble.

As good warm as hot, this is a nice homey casserole to go with a roast or other dish in the spirit of Sunday dinner. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: rutabagas are not only traditional but wonderful, but other turnips are great too, as are carrots, potatoes, parsnips, and celeriac (celery root).

This cooked salad can be prepared in many different ways, including a twice-fried method that by most standards is overwhelmingly oily. These options are all suitable, though the first one, in which the eggplant is grilled, is my favorite. The salad is best served cold, so plan to prepare it ahead of time and refrigerate. It’s quite good warm or at room temperature too.

There is no easier way to make a humble veg seem elegant than glazing it in this manner; turnips become royal enough to serve with any dish, but I like them best with roast chicken or beef. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: carrots, radishes, onions, beets, parsnips, or other root vegetables.

Most squash preparations are fairly bland, sweet, even insipid, but not this one, a lovely winter stew that can be a centerpiece for vegetarians (or for meat eaters with the addition of a few cubes of boneless chicken). A good rice pilaf (page 513) would suit this fine. It would also be at home alongside plain grilled steak. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: Semi-ripe plantains, potatoes, or sweet potatoes.

Houria is a great starter, but you can also serve it alongside North African meat dishes, like Lamb Tagine with Prunes (page 407) or Chicken and Lentil Tagine (page 284). It comes in many forms but always combines the sweetness of carrots with the typically earthy spices of North Africa. It’s best with cooked carrots, but if you’re in a hurry you can make it with raw carrots; see the variation. Julienning carrots for houria is easiest with a mandoline (see page 167); if you don’t have one, slice or chop them roughly.

Wonderfully sweet, this side dish is the Japanese equivalent of butter-glazed carrots. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: Butternut or other winter squash or carrots.

The perfect midsummer dish, one that can be served hot or cold. Convert it to a pasta sauce by tossing it, hot, with cooked pasta, a couple of raw eggs, and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: Any summer squash.

Green beans (or almost any other vegetable for that matter) gain an exciting twist from this miso-based dressing. You can find miso (see page 123) at well-stocked supermarkets and Asian markets; red miso (which is actually brown) is most often used in this dressing, but you can also use white. If you cannot find miso, see the variation, which is worth trying in any case.

A simple braised dish that brings a new look to root vegetables. Serve with stir-fries or with plain grilled or broiled fish. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: turnips and radishes of any type will fill in nicely for the carrots or parsnips.

Think of asparagus with mayonnaise but with a very sharp (and relatively low-fat) twist. As in most recipes for poached asparagus, thick spears are best; they retain some of their crispness while becoming tender. Those that weigh an ounce or more each—that is, eight to sixteen per pound—are the best. Their only disadvantage is that they must be peeled before cooking to remove the relatively tough skin. Fortunately, it’s an easy job, with either a vegetable peeler or a paring knife.

If you’re going to the trouble of making dosa—all the soaking, pureeing, and overnight resting—it’s sensible to make the amount called for in the preceding recipe (plus it’s not like 4 cups of rice and 1 cup of dal cost much more than half those amounts). But it’s unlikely you’ll have the griddle stamina or appetite to make it through all that batter. Hence, uttapam—a fancy version of dosa. These are perfect for lunch—I usually fry a couple and eat them with whatever leftovers there are from the dosa meal the night before. And although it might be untraditional, I season them with a pinch of chaat masala (page 594), but feel free to omit it if it doesn’t appeal or you don’t have it on hand. If you’re using a pancake griddle, you should be able to cook two uttapam at a time; or you could have two nonstick griddles going at the same time.

When you want a rice dish that screams “northern Italy,” but you don’t want something as rich (or as much work) as risotto, try throwing together this Italian rice salad, which was first made for me outside of Milan, served alongside a simply roasted chicken. You could add leftover chicken, shredded cheese, or other more substantial foods to make this into a meal, but it’s a wonderful side dish.

A northern European salad that is a great accompaniment to grilled sausages or cooked ham. It combines fall fruits and vegetables with a creamy dressing spiked with horseradish. If you cannot find a rutabaga—the thick-skinned yellow turnip also called a swede—substitute a couple of white turnips or a daikon radish.

Tabbouleh, the well-known salad that uses bulgur as its base (usually; there’s also a rice version, which I’ve included as a variation), should be dominated by its herbs, mostly parsley but also mint. You can prepare the bulgur ahead of time and toss in the herbs right before serving.

I love aggressively seasoned vegetables (see Broccoli or Cauliflower with Garlic and Lemon, Two Ways, page 452, specifically the second way, with the optional anchovies and dried chile added), and piadine are one of the best ways of justifying a meal centered around them. Piadine are griddle-cooked flatbreads from southern Italy that are sometimes folded and stuffed like calones. But it’s equally authentic, more convivial, and certainly easier to put a pile of piping hot piadine in the middle of the table surrounded by bowls of wilted kale and plates of grilled sausages or prosciutto. Have plenty of red wine on hand and let everybody help themselves.

Bulgur, which is precooked cracked wheat (see page 525), needs only to be reconstituted to be ready to eat. Usually this is done with water or stock, but here freshly made tomato juice is the liquid. (I had no idea what I was tasting when I first had this, but fortunately it was explained to me so I could experiment.) The nuts add a welcome crunchiness to this wonderful salad.

A better-keeping bread than the standard baguette or boule, largely because it contains olive oil, and an easy one to fancify, with the addition of olives and rosemary.