Lunch
2782 recipes found
Turkey-Zucchini Burgers
Consider this your dependable, blank-slate turkey burger that will always be juicy and well-seared no matter how you embellish it. Add ground spices, such as cumin or garlic powder; chopped herbs; or Worcestershire sauce or anchovies for umami — or leave the patty alone. With just a swipe of ketchup or mustard, it’ll hold its own. Grated zucchini keeps the burgers moist, mayonnaise helps bind and brown them, and salting only on the outside ensures that the meat stays tender. (For a cheeseburger, drape sliced cheese on the patties during the last 2 minutes of cooking and cover the pan.)
Zucchini Panzanella
Zucchini shines in this take on panzanella, a Tuscan bread salad commonly featuring tomatoes. (Panzanella didn’t include tomatoes until the 16th century, and earlier versions featured onions as the main vegetable.) Here, scallions crisp up alongside the pan-fried croutons, which get a last-minute candying with maple syrup to provide extra crunch and insurance against sogginess. While the croutons are magnificent and dangerously snackable, the star of this salad is the zucchini. Cooked zucchini tastes wonderful, but the crunch of the raw vegetable in this recipe is stimulating and sweet, especially when doused with the punchy, garlicky dressing. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter .
Candied Sweet Potatoes
When Fred Harvey opened his first Harvey House restaurant in 1876 on the railway line in Topeka, Kan., his idea was radical for the time: Railroad passengers would be fed good food in a pleasant environment. His concept was so successful that it spawned 84 restaurants, a Hollywood movie and an official cookbook. And it was in “The Harvey House Cookbook” that we found this excellent recipe for sweet potatoes candied with confectioners’ sugar and butter. It is best served warm rather than piping hot, which makes it convenient for big meals like Thanksgiving. Bake it before you roast your turkey, then reheat it briefly just before serving.
One-Pot Orzo With Tomatoes, Corn and Zucchini
This recipe is inspired by the tail end of summer, when fresh produce and herbs abound but the heat waves are finally starting to relent. And while this dish makes a wonderful stage for the season’s produce at its peak, it can also turn sad-looking February vegetables into a sauce that makes it feel like summer. The trick is to sauté the tomatoes slowly, until they’ve collapsed and become deeply sweet and fragrant. The orzo cooks right in the sauce, which cuts down on the dishes and allows the pasta to absorb the flavor as it cooks. If you prefer a larger pasta shape, stick to the traditional method of boiling pasta for best results, and save some pasta water to help loosen the sauce. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Sweet Potato Galette
Every part of this simple galette has its charms. The crust is easy to pull together and since it’s rolled out flat — no crimping or fluting — it’s doable even if you’re not a pie-hand. The topping is thin slices of sweet potato and apple brushed with maple syrup. And the filling is a hidden gem, a mix of cream cheese, Parmesan and maple syrup spiked with chile powder. Here, it’s piment d’Ville, a California chile grown from the seeds of piment d’Espelette, native to French Basque Country. This type of chile is warm and toasty, a little hot and a little sweet and a jazzy partner that swings sweet and savory, just like the rest of the galette.
Grilled Zucchini and Feta Toasts
Though its flavor is subtle, zucchini absorbs seasonings readily, and develops deep complexity when grilled. In this recipe, the grilled squash is doused with a flavorful oil made with garlic, cumin and coriander. If you have extra time, marinate the grilled zucchini pieces in the spice oil for up to 24 hours to help build flavor. You can serve the dish hot off the grill, or prepare in advance, then serve at room temperature.
Sweet Potato-Garlic Soup With Chile Oil
This silky-smooth sweet potato soup features the deep flavor of roasted garlic and a splendid dose of garlicky, Sichuan peppercorn chile oil, which delivers heat and a tingling sensation with every spoonful. Roasting the sweet potatoes at a high temperature does a few things in this recipe: First, it develops the sweet potato’s flavors, and second, it softens the tubers, yielding a smooth texture. Serve this soup with thick slices of buttered, toasted bread to sop it up.
Sweet Potato Aligot
In a classic French pommes aligot potatoes are mashed with butter and enough cheese to turn them into a stretchy purée that’s soft, gooey and eminently comforting. This version, made with sweet potatoes, has a gently caramelized flavor and a deeply satiny texture. Pan-fried sage leaves make a crisp, herbal garnish that’s worth the few extra minutes of work. Note that the bigger the sage leaves, the easier they are to fry. If you can’t find Saint-Nectaire or Tomme de Savoie cheese, you can use fontina or mozzarella. And if you want to make this ahead, or reheat leftovers, let the mixture cool, then store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat it on low, stirring in a little cream until the mixture is elastic and smooth. Serve this as a side dish to sausages or roasted meats, or as a meatless entree with a fresh, crunchy salad.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Yogurt And Sesame Seeds
You can live happily now and feel prudent enough to live tomorrow if you cautiously employ your seeds on the last of last autumn’s sweet potatoes. This is my favorite of all the dishes my brother has ever served at the very seasonal Franny’s, the restaurant in Brooklyn where he is the chef. It disappears from his menu the instant the plants that grow from seeds begin to sprout, making it, like the plants themselves, available for only a few months each year.
Sweet Potatoes With Miso-Ginger Sauce
Think of this miso-ginger sauce as a universal sauce, because it’s so good on so many things: tofu, tempeh, winter squash and napa cabbage salads, for starters. This recipe, adapted from "In My Kitchen," by the vegetarian cookbook author Deborah Madison, spoons the dressing over sweet potatoes, and suggests serving them with spicy Asian greens or stir-fried bok choy, and maybe soba noodles or brown or black rice. Not surprisingly, the sauce is good on them, too.
Summer Squash Caponata
Caponata, a sweet and sour vegetable dish of Sicilian origin, is usually made with eggplant, but this version is made with zucchini and yellow squash, and dotted with capers and olives. Served at room temperature, caponata often graces the antipasto table at restaurants, but it can also be a main course or a side dish. At home, it can top crostini, a perfect accompaniment to drinks. For a picnic, serve it with good canned tuna and hard-cooked eggs.
Brown Butter Lentil and Sweet Potato Salad
This simple lentil salad has a little secret: a toasty, brown butter vinaigrette perfumed with sage. The dish has as much texture as it does flavor. French green lentils or black lentils are the ideal choice, as they hold their shape well after cooking, but brown lentils will work too, though they’ll be a bit softer. Start testing your lentils for doneness after about 15 minutes of cooking; you want them cooked through but not mushy, and they’re best if they retain some bite. Roasted until tender, the sweet potatoes add richness, but feel free to substitute just about any roasted vegetables. Carrots, beets or red bell peppers would all be delicious in their stead.
Pasta Alla Norma
This traditional Sicilian pasta dish of sautéed eggplant tossed with tomato sauce and topped with ricotta salata makes for a satisfying vegetarian dinner, and it can be thrown together in under an hour.
Roasted Sweet Potato Oven Fries
I don’t know what I like best about these sweet wedges – the way the sweet potato skins crisp and caramelize, the creamy texture of the sweet flesh, or the subtle flavors of the spices and infused oil.
Salt-Rubbed Sweet Potatoes With Sour Cream and Chives
If you’ve ever thought the somewhat-dull sweet potato could use some punch, try covering it in a layer of salt before you bake it: The salt flavors and tenderizes the skin, leaving a crisp exterior that begs for the cooling tang of sour cream. Leave the potatoes a little damp after you’ve scrubbed them clean so that you’ll have an easier time getting the salt to stick.
Eggplant and Tomato Pie
Tomatoes have another week or so to go in most farmers’ markets. This robust summer pie, topped with a layer of tomato slices flecked with thyme, is a nice party piece. It also packs well once cooled, so take leftovers to work for lunch.
Red Curry Mussels and Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Moules-frites, a hearty bowl of mussels served with fries on the side, is very popular in Belgium and France. This version is seasoned with Thai spices and paired with sweet potatoes — not traditional at all, but totally satisfying. The recipe calls for commercially made red curry paste, which makes this dish quick to prepare. It shouldn't be hard to find at Asian grocers and online, but do try to obtain makrut lime leaves, which impart a lovely floral note.
Sweet Potato Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Roasted, puréed sweet potatoes lend moisture, flavor and a rich golden color to this hybrid breakfast bread and pastry. Here, a batter-like layer added to the yeasted dough, referred to as a wine loaf, helps prevent those gaps that often form in swirled breads. This recipe bakes beautifully in a small Pullman loaf pan, but any 1 1/2-pound-capacity loaf pan will do. If you can spare a slice, it makes a beautiful overnight French toast.
Eggplant and Bean Chili
This rich vegetarian chili is made with meaty eggplant, red kidney beans (which create a hearty texture) and lentils (which create creaminess). Caramelized eggplant and sweet carrots simmer in a garlic-infused tomato sauce with classic chili spices until the eggplant breaks down into a saucy, savory ragù. The kidney beans retain some of their bite to balance the silky eggplant. Serve the chili with a toppings bar for a festive spread. Leftovers transform into a terrific meal with pasta the next day, reheated and tossed with spaghetti and grated Parmesan.
Eggplant and Squash Alla Parmigiana
This parmigiana is well suited to red wine and the brisk weather of late September, when eggplant, zucchini and summer squash are still in the farmers' market. The dish can be prepared in advance and reheated.
Tomato Salad With Smoky Eggplant Flatbread
Buy lavash or pita at a local Middle Eastern market, heat the flatbreads in a skillet or toaster oven, and smear them with this delicious eggplant spread, enriched with spices and tahini and pleasantly smoky from a cook over an open flame. Serve the flatbreads with this Turkish-style tomato salad, a variation on one I learned in Istanbul from the Turkish chef Gamze Ineceli. Hers is more traditional — finely chopped tomato is customary — but you can also choose the colorful cherry tomatoes at the market and cut them in halves or quarters.
Crostini Alla Norma
The classic Sicilian pasta sauce of eggplant and tomato makes a hearty topping for summery crostini. Traditionally, the alla norma method involves frying eggplant, but this recipe calls for roasting it, which saves time and requires much less oil. The eggplant and tomato mixture can be made up to two days in advance, which makes this a great dish for entertaining, since it benefits from some extra time for flavors to develop. For an even quicker appetizer, serve in a bowl with toasted baguette slices on the side.
Sabich Bowls
The traditional Israeli sandwich known as sabich features fried eggplant that’s tucked into pitas and topped with sliced hard-boiled eggs, chopped tomato-cucumber salad, pickles, tahini sauce and sometimes shredded cabbage. This weeknight recipe turns the popular sandwich into a one-bowl meal that is prepared on a sheet pan. Eggplant and chickpeas are roasted side by side; the eggplant becomes tender and creamy while the chickpeas turn golden and crispy. Canned chickpeas do double duty: Some are a part of the roast, while the remaining beans transform into a luscious, garlicky tahini sauce. The eggplant mixture is served on top of rice in this recipe, but all sorts of grains would work, including bulgur, farro and quinoa.
Scrunched Cabbage Salad With Fried Almonds
Crunchy and succulent, this hearty salad takes the humble cabbage and celebrates it as a leafy green. Raw cabbage can be tough and fibrous, which is why it is often thinly sliced for coleslaw. Massaging the leaves with salt — a technique common in kale salads — tenderizes the vegetable. The softened greens absorb the lemony dressing while nuts and seeds fry in olive oil. Store-bought roasted, salted almonds and toasted sesame seeds can be substituted, but adding freshly fried nuts and seeds to the salad while they’re still warm showcases their rich, earthy aromas. Serve alongside a fried chicken cutlet or on a plate with hummus and pita.