Vegetables
1337 recipes found
Maple-Glazed Sweet Potato Wedges With Bacon
To make maple-glazed sweet potatoes irresistible, you may want to look to bacon, another of maple syrup’s best friends, for a salty, smoky boost. The bacon fries in the oven while the sweet potato cooks, leaving the stove open (grits? oatmeal? fried eggs?) and avoiding the messy sputtering of bacon cooking in a skillet.
Candied Yams
Sweet enough for dessert but savory enough for a side, candied yams are a quintessential Southern staple for Sunday dinner, get-togethers or holidays. Many supermarkets use the terms “sweet potatoes” and “yams” interchangeably. For this recipe, any orange-fleshed varieties like Jewel or Garnet will do. Whatever you use, this dish will definitely round out anything savory on your plate, on Thanksgiving and beyond.
Fried Zucchini With Pecorino and Hot Pepper
These shallow-fried zucchini rounds are delicious served as a snack with drinks, but they are equally good at room temperature as part of an antipasto.
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.
Sweet Potato and Onion Dip
George Washington Carver, the botanist, educator and inventor, was known as “the peanut man,” but he geeked out over sweet potatoes as much as peanuts. He recorded recipes for sweet potato flour, sweet potato starch and commercial canning. “The delicate flavor of a sweet potato is lost if it is not cooked properly,” he wrote in his 1936 Bulletin No. 38. (His paper booklets were distributed to rural farmers to assist with crop rotation and provide instructions for added-value products.) Dr. Carver considered baking the best way to cook sweet potatoes while preserving the most flavor. Use varieties like Covington, Vardaman or jewel; the sugary notes balance the alliums and warming spices. Raw vegetables or tortilla chips make practical dipping utensils for this spread, or lather the dip over toasted thick-cut bread.
Tsimmes (Beef, Carrot and Sweet Potato Stew)
Tsimmes is a medieval German Jewish holiday beef stew that spread with the Jews to Eastern Europe. It was originally made with carrots and turnips, then when potatoes came to the Old World, they were added. When the dish came to the New World, sweet potatoes often replaces the white potatoes. Now I’ve tweaked it to my taste: I substitute the yellow yams or sweet potatoes with the white Japanese sweet potatoes that I love. I use flanken, a cut of short ribs found at kosher butchers, but any cut of short ribs will do, as will beef stew meat. I keep the bones in for flavor — and add a bay leaf for the same reason — and, rather than skimming the fat as it cooks, I simply put the stew pot in the refrigerator overnight so I can easily remove the hardened fat the next day. (A generation or two before me, cooks would have saved that fat for cooking and baking.) Instead of adding a little matzo meal to thicken the broth, I find no need for that, especially if I reduce the sauce a little before serving. I add pitted prunes, which are sweet enough to eliminate the need for brown sugar or honey and, at the end, I add parsley for color.
Sweet Potato Hash Browns
A riff on Josh Ozersky’s famous minimalist hash browns, these are made by sprinkling grated sweet potato over hot butter in a very thin layer, then waiting patiently for the starch to work its magic. Crisp, salty, buttery and addictive, these hash browns are so good, you could probably eat the entire batch in one sitting (or force yourself to be generous and share with a friend). Serve with a fried or over-easy egg for a complete breakfast.
Sweet Potatoes Baked With Lemon
This recipe first appeared in The Times in 1992, with an article by Molly O'Neill, when Edna Lewis, many years after writing her seminal cookbook “The Taste of Country Cooking,” was the chef at the Brooklyn restaurant Gage & Tollner. The addition of lemon zest and juice make this brighter and less sweet than typical sweet potato dishes.
Bademjan Kebab
Bademjan kebab is traditionally pan-fried eggplant stuffed with bieh, a herb-and-nut sauce that, in Northern Iran, uses sour fruit molasses along with the typical sweet and sour pomegranate molasses. An important Northern Iranian spice, Persian hogweed is earthy, sour and slightly bitter, with a pungent scent; you can find it at Middle Eastern groceries. Mr. Sadr sautés the bieh until the herbs and nuts cook down into a dark green, thick paste, which is spooned onto partially roasted eggplant halves then roasted. Northern Iranian cooking doesn’t use a lot of spices, so the herbs, nuts and molasses create a deeply flavored, almost meaty vegan sauce. It’s flexible, so sub in dill, basil, tarragon, savory or scallion for any of the herbs. The bieh will keep for 1 week in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer, so you can make it in advance. If eating this dish as a main, Mr. Sadr suggests serving it with plain or turmeric basmati rice.
Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Less sugary than traditional candied yams, these sweet potatoes rely on the natural sweetness of pineapple juice, with just a hint of brown sugar to form a syrup that’s flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. The pineapple adds some tangy acidity that further balances the sweetness of the potatoes and the syrup that coats them. By parboiling the sweet potatoes before baking them in this recipe (which can be done a day or two ahead), you’re cutting down the cook time — and ensuring that you’ll get fork-tender spuds. This dish is finished on the stovetop, which helps the syrup to thicken and come together quickly.
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.
Gochujang-Glazed Eggplant With Fried Scallions
Loosely inspired by the Korean banchan gaji bokkeum (stir-fried eggplant), this recipe keeps the eggplant in large pieces and sears it over high heat, yielding beautifully cooked flesh and still-violet skin. Though gaji bokkeum is traditionally soy sauce-based, my mother uses gochujang, the fermented Korean chile paste, for added sweetness and heat. The result is divine: As the sticky red sauce clings to the fried eggplant spears, it caramelizes in the heat of the pan and provides a glossy finish. The real star of this dish, though, is the scallion oil. The tangle of thinly sliced scallions crisps in olive oil, lending its oniony flavor to the oil, which is then used to cook the eggplant. This dish is salty, spicy and sweet — everything you want in a banchan — and tastes great with a bowl of fresh white rice.
Eggplant Caponata
Caponata became part of Sicilian cooking centuries ago, when the island was under Arab rule. The Arabs brought eggplants and sugar, along with citrus and spices. Other versions of caponata contain raisins and pine nuts; this one has capers and green olives. Some cooks add a lot of tomato, but I prefer just a touch of good tomato paste. The seasoning is sweet, sour and salty, and laced with olive oil. Like pickles and other savory preserves, caponata is often made in quantity and stored in jars for use throughout the year. Serve it on little toasts as an appetizer or to accompany a meal.
Sweet and Sour Eggplant With Garlic Chips
This vibrant eggplant dish relies heavily on simple pantry staples, but gets its complex flavor from the clever use of garlic: First, you make garlic chips, then you fry eggplant in the remaining garlic-infused oil. Since garlic chips can burn easily, the key here is to combine the garlic and oil in an unheated pan for even cooking. As the oil heats up, the garlic will sizzle rapidly as the moisture cooks off. When it slows down, the garlic slices should be crisp. Be sure to remove the chips just as they begin to turn golden, as they will continue to cook after being removed from the oil. The rest is easy: Sauté the eggplant, create a quick soy sauce glaze, sprinkle with herbs and garlic chips, and serve.
Eggplant and Potato Gratin
In this side dish inspired by Indian flavors, slices of eggplant and potato sit over a bed of crushed tomatoes seasoned with garlic, cumin and nigella seeds. It’s a wonderful accompaniment to seafood, particularly roasted fish. To cut the cooking time, slice the vegetables even thinner, using a mandolin or food processor. Nigella seeds are sometimes erroneously labeled as black cumin, but they look and taste quite different. They have a triangular shape and a distinct black coat, and the flavor will remind some of alliums. There is no direct substitute, but, for the same texture — if not the same taste — you could use sesame seeds.
Spiced Eggplant and Tomatoes With Runny Eggs
A little like an eggplant version of shakshuka, this velvety skillet meal features sautéed eggplant and tomatoes seasoned with garlic, spices and lemon zest. It’s topped with runny eggs and a crunchy garnish of toasted nuts. The yogurt and hot sauce simultaneously heat things up and cool things down, and really add a lot to this hearty, meltingly soft dish. Serve it for brunch or dinner, with a crisp green salad and some flatbread on the side.
Eggplant Focaccia With Ricotta and Olives
A generous amount of olive oil in the dough gives this flatbread its especially crisp edges, and a soft, bready crumb. The topping, a mix of thinly sliced eggplant slathered with garlic-imbued olive oil and minced olives, is silky, rich and very flavorful — even without the optional (but excellent) anchovies. Just as good devoured warm from the oven and as it is at room temperature, this makes perfect picnic fare. Or serve it with a leafy salad for a light but satisfying dinner.
Summer Vegetable Skewers
Of all the possible vegetables to grill on skewers, zucchini and eggplant are some of the best, turning velvety soft and richly flavored as they sear over the flames. In this recipe, they’re quickly marinated in oregano, garlic and olive oil while the grill heats, then brightened with plenty of fresh lemon juice just before serving. Salting them for 10 or so minutes before grilling helps season them through and through, but you can skip that step if you’re short on time. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Crunchy Eggplant Parmesan
In most eggplant Parmesan recipes, crusty slices of fried eggplant go into a casserole with sauce and cheese -- where they quickly turn to sludge. This recipe holds on to the crunch by transforming each whole eggplant into a crisp cutlet. You can make one eggplant per person to serve this as an appetizer, or add a bed of pasta to make it more substantial. There's no Parmesan cheese in this recipe, but that's not a mistake: in Italian the phrase "alla Parmigiana" refers to a style of dish. It doesn't refer to Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
Pan-Roasted Eggplant With Peanut-Chile Sauce
The chef Cal Peternell, who ran the Chez Panisse kitchen for many years, has a knack for inventing vegetable dishes that are infused with complex flavors. In this recipe, he weighs the eggplant slices down while they roast (like chicken under a brick), which presses out extra liquid and forms a magnificent crust. Finished with a rich, spicy ginger-peanut sauce and sparked with cool, crunchy fresh herbs, it's equally satisfying room temperature as a salad or warm as a vegetarian entrée, served with rice.
Pan-Fried Eggplant With Chile, Honey and Ricotta
For the crispest, most burnished pieces of eggplant, nothing beats frying, and it’s worth every last splattered drop of oil to get there. This dish pairs the golden spears of fried eggplant with milky ricotta cheese, fried garlic slices, red-pepper flakes and a generous drizzle of honey. You can serve it as a first course, a substantial side dish or a light main course with a green salad on the side. Note that tender, young eggplant cook a lot more quickly than denser, larger ones, and are worth seeking out here.
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.