Saute

If you like leeks, you’re sure to enjoy this dressed-up version of hash browns. Use firm-textured potatoes, such as red-skinned or Yukon gold, rather than mealy ones, for best results. Serve with sautéed soy “sausage,” allowing 2 links per serving, and a salad of mixed baby greens with tomatoes and carrots.

With this luscious treat, you’ll need only a bountiful tossed salad (and perhaps a steamed green vegetable—broccoli is a nice addition) to make a delightful meal.

If you’re feeding “meat-and-potatoes” kind of people, try this out on them. It’s quite hearty, but not so “meaty” that it would put off those who aren’t fans of meat substitutes.

This pairs well with light pasta dishes, as in the suggested menu.

Soy crumbles were developed to imitate ground beef, but it’s not so much their flavor as their texture that does the trick. This is a family-friendly recipe for all to enjoy.

This is good to serve with meals needing a protein boost or as a sandwich filling. See the menu with Southeast Asian-Style Spicy Mashed Potatoes (page 187).

This is a family favorite that I make regularly. It can be sautéed or baked and is a great accompaniment to Asian-style noodle or rice dishes.

Soft tofu is a good choice for dishes in which it is crumbled, as in this and the preceding scramble recipe. Both are good for lunch, a light dinner, or even as part of a casual brunch.

This hearty dish is reminiscent of Chinese restaurant peppersteak.

A simple reproduction of a Chinese restaurant favorite, this is excellent served with tofu dishes.

This quick and colorful pasta dish will give you a summery feeling any time of year.

Combine one filled pasta with one mild vegetable, and if you are lucky as I am, your kids might actually like this as much as you do! Serve this with fresh bread or focaccia and a platter of raw vegetables. Or, to make this a more sophisticated meal, serve with any of the mixed greens salads on pages 50 to 53, and some good wine.

This tasty Slavic dish can be made in a snap with shredded coleslaw cabbage. For a complete meal, accompany each serving with a couple of links of sautéed soy “sausages” and a salad of dark green lettuce and tomatoes.

What luscious flavor from such basic ingredients! Pureed soft tofu or white beans make a deceptively rich base for a soup sure to please mushroom enthusiasts. Serve this soup as an introduction to light pasta or potato dishes.

Fresh Prince Edward Island mussels are God’s gift to an appetizer menu. This dish has worked in every restaurant that I’ve been involved with and people just love it. If you don’t have saffron, it’s okay—but the curry is a must. I like serving grilled bread with this for sopping up the delicious broth.

I love bacon and shrimp. It’s a classic combination that works really well in this Southwestern-inspired bistro dish.

One trick that I learned a long time ago about cooking pork is that you have to brine it. The brine for this recipe is a sugar-salt solution mixed with apple juice concentrate (you will need 2 cans of frozen juice) for the brine and spiced apples. With its sweet apple flavor, this is an intense marinade that works miracles on pork chops. Trust me—once you taste a thick pork chop that’s been flavored in a brine, you will never go back. Cozy up to your butcher to get the pork chops cut to your liking. Thin pork chops—no way! Serve this with Corn Pudding (page 236).

I love cauliflower, but I know not everyone shares my passion for this nutritious but sometimes bland vegetable. This recipe shows that the right cooking method and complementary ingredients can make a cauliflower dish that can steal the show. As is my way with most vegetables, I skillet-cook the cauliflower—slowly sautéing it with little or no added moisture. That way, more of the essential vegetable flavor is retained and intensified, adding layers of caramelization. Here, too, the companion vegetables enhance the cauliflower, with olives lending earthy complexity, and cherry tomatoes giving acidity and freshness. This can be made in advance and reheated. And if you happen to have some left over, it can be the base for a great risotto, or for dressing a plate of pasta for two.

Peppers play a central role in this Calabrian version of potato salad. Fresh green peppers are fried as a main salad ingredient; and peperoncino, dried crushed red-pepper flakes, serves as an essential seasoning. The peppers you want for this are the slender, long ones with sweet, tender flesh, which I have always just called “Italian frying peppers.” These days, with the greater popularity of peppers and chilis here in America, markets sell a number of varieties that are suitable for frying, such as banana peppers, wax peppers, Hungarian peppers, and Cubanelle peppers. In addition to this delicious salad with potatoes, you’ll find many wonderful uses for fresh peppers, fried Italian-style. Season them with olive oil and slices of garlic, let them marinate, and enjoy them as part of an antipasto or layered in a sandwich. Or sprinkle a little wine vinegar on the peppers (with the olive oil and garlic) for a condiment-like salad that is just perfect with grilled fish or chicken.