Vegetables
1337 recipes found
Whatever You Want Soup
This basic recipe can serve as a canvas for any kind of chunky soup. Mix and match ingredients to suit your cravings, using an aromatic base of onions and garlic, seasonings, flavorful stock (or water), and whatever main ingredients you choose. This recipe, like a similar one in Julia Turshen's cookbook "Small Victories," highlights soup's basic transformative qualities. With just a bit of time, ordinary ingredients can become an extraordinary winter meal for tonight, and for days to come. Covered in the refrigerator, it will last for up to five days, but it also freezes exceptionally well for up to two months. Just return it to a boil before using.
Cucumber-Tomato Salad With Seared Halloumi and Olive Oil Croutons
This recipe, inspired by the Greek horiatiki salad, illustrates the power of good, fresh olive oil to make a dish taste bright and rich — and never oily. It’s used here to toast the croutons, to infuse garlic into the dressing and to distribute the sweetness of ripe tomatoes throughout the salad. Finally, use it to pan-fry slices of halloumi and make this a vegetarian main course.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Spinach With Feta
A ho-hum sheet-pan of potatoes and greens this is not. Caramelizing sweet potatoes and wilting soft greens on a sheet pan is a smart way to cook two vegetables at once in this efficient and exciting recipe. There are bolts of pickled jalapeño, salty feta and scallions, but the pickled jalapeño brine is the key. It’s used like a spicy vinegar, seeping into the sweet potatoes to complement their flavor. To make it a meal, top with a fried egg or roasted Mexican chorizo, swaddle in a pita or tortilla with tahini or sour cream, spoon onto grains or brothy beans, or into omelets or frittatas. Leftovers will keep refrigerated for up to a week.
Saag Paneer
Saag refers to an Indian vegetable dish in which spinach or other dark greens are stewed with ginger, garlic, fresh chiles and spices until meltingly soft. As the name suggests, saag paneer includes paneer, a mild Indian cheese that is firm enough to cook without melting. The heat of the serrano chiles balances the creamy richness, but for a milder dish, remove the seeds before mincing the chiles. The fresh greens are finely chopped before cooking, to help them break down faster into a silky gravy. Thawed chopped frozen spinach can be used to save time, but make sure to drain well and squeeze out the excess liquid first. Finish the dish with a little heavy cream (or plain yogurt) to lend body and richness. Serve with steamed rice and/or Indian flatbread (such as naan). Any leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.
Zucca in Agrodolce (Sweet and Sour Butternut Squash)
Squash marinated in vinegar is prepared differently from region to region in Italy. In Sicily, an agrodolce (sweet and sour) marinade, along with thinly sliced garlic and fresh mint, enlivens the palate. Typically, the squash is pan-fried, but it works just as well baked in the oven, as done here. How much sugar you use depends on the zing of your vinegar and the sweetness of your tooth. Zucca in agrodolce is best served at room temperature, and it’s left to rest for just long enough so that the butternut squash soaks up the sweet and sour syrup. You can also make it a day in advance; just remember to it bring to room temperature before adding the final garnish of fresh mint and serving.
Vegetarian Mushroom Wellington
Classic beef Wellington is a technical feat in which a tenderloin is topped with foie gras or mushroom duxelles, then wrapped in puff pastry and baked. This vegetarian version is less exacting yet just as impressive. Seared portobello mushrooms are layered with apple cider-caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms, which are seasoned with soy sauce for flavor and bolstered with walnuts for texture. The rich mushroom filling is vegan, and the entire dish can easily be made vegan, too. Swap in vegan puff pastry, a butter substitute in the port reduction and caramelized onions, and an egg substitute for brushing the puff pastry. You can assemble and refrigerate the dish up to 1 day before baking it. Prepare the port reduction as the Wellington bakes, or skip it entirely and serve with cranberry sauce for a touch of tangy sweetness.
Stuffed Mushrooms
These fun stuffed mushrooms turn humble mushrooms into rich, savory bites with the flavors of escargots, the classic French delicacy of snails cooked in garlic butter. Here, fragrant and buttery bread crumbs infused with garlic, shallots and parsley fill mushroom caps. The roasted cremini mushrooms emerge from the oven juicy, with a garlicky topping that’s golden and crispy. Make use of your trimmings: The mushroom stems can be frozen for later use in vegetable or chicken stock.
Stuffed Onions
These elegant onions are stuffed with beautiful saffron-tinged basmati rice. The fluffy rice is infused with fragrant spices and studded with toasted nuts and dried fruit for a vibrant and textured jeweled look. The onion layers and rice can be prepared a day ahead and kept refrigerated. These festive onions are a great accompaniment to any large protein roast (fish, chicken, steak) and make for a stunning vegetarian main dish. Use any mix of preferred chopped dried fruit; apricots, dates and currants are all nice alternatives.
Roasted Butternut Squash With Brown Butter Vinaigrette
This roasted butternut squash is every bit as caramelized as you’d want it to be, without the prep work that’s usually involved. First, it’s cooked without being peeled: The skin is a crisp counterpart to the jammy interior. (If you do want to get rid of the peel, it tears away easily after roasting.) Then, it’s dressed with a vinaigrette made with brown butter, vinegar and dried chile. Mint is added for freshness and flaky salt for crunch, and you could also throw on some cheese — Parmesan, Gruyère, ricotta — for more richness. Serve the squash over sturdy salad greens, or add nuts or pepitas to the browning butter for more texture.
Delicata Squash and Corn Fritters
These vegetable-packed fritters are crispy around the edges and tender in the center. Delicata squash has a thin skin that can be left on, adding color and a dose of nuttiness. Corn adds pops of sweetness, while moist zucchini helps bind the patties. Fragrant fried sage leaves do double duty in this dish: First they infuse the oil with herbaceous flavor, then they become a beautiful, crisp garnish. For the best results, fry the fritters and serve immediately; however, they can also be made a few hours ahead and reheated at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes until hot and crisp.
Chili- and Cinnamon-Roasted Butternut Squash
Roasting butternut squash at a high temperature helps the sugars caramelize, bringing out a sweetness that pairs perfectly with fall flavors like cinnamon and cayenne. This recipe plays on the duality of butternut squash – its savory and sweet components. The ground cinnamon complements the caramelization, and the chili powder and cayenne play on the vegetable’s more savory profile. The cayenne also adds a kick, though you can omit it if you prefer to keep this dish’s heat limited to the more subtle chili powder.
Jessica B. Harris’s Summer Succotash
The food historian and writer Jessica B. Harris wrote a whole cookbook, “The Martha’s Vineyard Table” (Chronicle Books, 2013), paying tribute to the Massachusetts resort island where lobsters, oysters and farm-fresh vegetables are abundant. This dish is ideal for summer, when the tomatoes are overflowing. Dr. Harris loves to use okra in the place of beans, which are often an ingredient in succotash dishes. If you can’t find a habanero chile but still want to add heat, a small jalapeño will work.
Matar Kachori (Fried Pea-Filled Pastries)
Kachori started as street food in Rajasthan, where Marwari cooks sealed food in pastry and deep-fried it, making it ideal for the hungry traders doing business at outdoor markets. Kachori can be filled with potatoes, dal and vegetables, but when peas are in season, they make what I consider the pinnacle of the genre. The filling is fresh, green, bright, juicy and lightly seasoned with herbs and lemon, all tucked inside a thin, flaky crust. The dough behaves nothing like pie dough, but somehow achieves the same effect after it’s deep-fried. Though the snack was originally made to be portable and to keep for a long time, these kachori are best the day they’re made.
Broccoli Salad With Cheddar and Warm Bacon Vinaigrette
Broccoli salads are a dime a dozen, but this one, which is adapted from Ashley Christensen's cookbook, "Poole's: Recipes From a Modern Diner," is a game-changing celebration of flavors, colors and textures: broccoli, toasted pecans and red grapes are cloaked in a warm bacon-scallion vinaigrette, then sprinkled with small chunks of sharp white Cheddar. Ms. Christensen's recipe, which uses the florets as well as the stalks, asks you to blanch the broccoli (cooking it for a few minutes in generously salted boiling water, then shocking it with salted iced water). It takes a little extra time, but the crisp-tender, bright green broccoli, seasoned inside and out, is your just reward. Try not to eat the entire bowl yourself.
Aloo Masala (Spiced Potatoes)
A little bowl of simply spiced half-mashed potatoes and onion, glistening with fat, is a standard side dish at bustling restaurants that serve dosas. It’s also one of the best vegetable dishes — inexpensive, quick and delicious — to add to your repertoire as a home cook. The key to these potatoes is water, not fat. Overcooking them just slightly ensures that they’re tender, and that they hold enough moisture so when you drop them into the hot pan, they break up and meld into the sautéed onion mix, becoming almost indistinguishable from it. Though aloo masala is great with a hot dosa, it’s a versatile dish that can also work as a side with other meals.
Crushed Sour Cream Potatoes
These extremely rich, highly textured potatoes are no less luxurious than the silky mashed variety, but they are a lot less work. There’s no ricing, mashing or whipping — just a simple crush to expose the potatoes’ craggy interior. From here on out, the key word is “cream”: Creamy potatoes meld with the garlicky heavy cream mixture and lots of sour cream. Small (and yes, creamy) potatoes on the waxy side, like a new potato or even a fingerling, work best here, but a more floury potato cut into large chunks would also work in a pinch. Don’t skimp on the black pepper or chives. They truly make this dish.
Long-Cooked Broccoli
If you’re used to quick-cooked broccoli, barely blanched in boiling water, or crisp, raw florets, this old Alice Waters recipe from “Chez Panisse Vegetables” (HarperCollins, 1996) might seem a little off. A whole hour of simmering with the lid on? Yes! The result is an incredibly sweet, tender, juicy and delicious vegetable with almost no hands-on work. Finish the dish with plenty of cheese and lemon zest, and an extra drizzle of olive oil, and eat it just the way it is, or break it up into some hot, just-cooked pasta for a bigger meal.
Roasted Tomato and Corn Pie With Cheddar Crust
In this large-scale galette, cherry tomatoes, fresh corn and scallions are wrapped in a flaky Cheddar crust. The extra step of roasting the tomatoes first yields a pie that’s on the just-right side of juicy. Make sure you bake it long enough, and don’t be afraid to let the crust get deeply golden brown and allow the base to cook through. A good way to test for doneness is to gently shake the baking sheet: A crust that’s not fully baked will stay in place on the baking sheet, whereas a well-baked crust will easily slide from one end to the other. Feel free to substitute another kind of grated cheese for the Cheddar; Gruyère, Monterey jack and Parmesan are all delicious options.
Memphis Dry-Rub Mushrooms
This showstopper — using a dry rub adapted from Greg Collier, the chef and co-owner of Leah & Louise in Charlotte, N.C. — is an opportunity to explore different mushroom varieties. Black oyster mushrooms give a brawny bite, and effortlessly hold the soulful seasoning while getting the crispest, crunchiest edges. Fuzzy white lion’s mane or even portobellos work, too; just buy the biggest mushrooms you can find. This recipe uses Worcestershire sauce, which typically includes anchovies, so be sure to seek out vegan Worcestershire if you'd like to make the dish vegan. Serve with sweet potato pikliz.
Green Beans and Greens With Fried Shallots
These delightfully al dente green beans are a quick-cooking nod to the green bean casserole. There is no cream of mushroom soup, but there are fried shallots. Torn leafy greens, briefly sautéed with a bit of butter and a few melted anchovies (which can be omitted for vegetarians), are added to the beans to wilt at the last minute for a very green-on-green side. Depending on what else you’re serving, this could almost count as a salad. Be sure to finish with plenty of acid and flaky salt.
Grilled Carrots With Yogurt, Carrot-Top Oil and Dukkah
You can serve these carrots with Greek yogurt, or with homemade labneh, if you start the night before (see Tip below). This recipe calls for making your own dukkah: You’ll have more than you need, but keep any leftovers in a sealed container to sprinkle over salads, grilled meat or fish. A bunch of carrots from your farmers’ market will work best here, but you can also use regular carrots that have been halved or quartered lengthwise. If you can’t find bunches of carrots with their fresh tops, you can prepare the oil using parsley instead, or double the tarragon for an even more herbaceous version.
Roasted Peppers With Capers, Olives and Anchovy
A fresh sweet pepper roasted at home can be revelatory. The flames of an outdoor grill, stovetop burner or broiler add a touch of smokiness, while helping to remove a pepper’s tough skin. To prevent the pepper from overcooking, do not place it in a closed container after roasting, as some suggest — just let it cool uncovered on a plate. The skin will still come off and the flesh won’t be mushy. The combination of sweet pepper and salty anchovy is classic. Serve this carpaccio-style, using a whole pepper to cover the plate, or arrange in alternating rows.
Jingalov Hats
This recipe for jingalov hats, the simple flatbread stuffed with a mix of greens, comes from “Lavash,” an Armenian cookbook by John Lee, Ara Zada and Kate Leahy. The authors got the recipe in Artsakh from Lilia Harutyunyan, a local baker who mixes tangy wild sorrel and dandelion greens with soft herbs such as chervil and cilantro, as well as earthy beet greens, chard and spinach. The key to a great bread is in the mix of greens, which gently steam inside the bread as it cooks on the stovetop. Wash and dry all the greens in a salad spinner to remove as much moisture as possible before chopping. The pomegranate seeds are optional, though Ms. Harutyunyan likes to add them for extra tang.
Skirt Steak With Salsa Verde Salad
Salsa verde made with scallions, mint, parsley, capers and garlic becomes both the marinade for the steak and the dressing for the greens in this summery dinner salad. For extra smoky flavor, try grilling the romaine hearts (drizzle with olive oil and grill, cut side down, until lightly charred). Or, if you love bitter greens, substitute roughly chopped escarole leaves for the romaine.