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Warm Chickpeas and Greens With Vinaigrette
In the mountainous regions of Provence, frugal farmers make a meal of chickpeas and spinach or chard. They cook the greens in a big pot of water, then use the same water for cooking the chickpeas. While the chickpeas simmer, the farmers make a vinaigrette and use that to season the chickpeas and greens.

Veal Shanks With Dried Cranberries

Clam or Mussel Stew With Greens and Beans
This is a great winter seafood stew adapted from a much richer recipe by the late Mark Peel, executive chef of Campanile Restaurant in Los Angeles. It’s easy to make and easy to serve.

White Beans With Squid And Broken Noodles

Chicken Roasted With Sour Cream, Lemon Juice And Mango Chutney

Chicken Meunière
Traditionally, the term “meuniere” refers to fillets of sole that are floured and sauteed quickly, then finished with lemon juice, parsley and browned butter. But there’s no reason to be parochial about it. This is a fast, surprisingly elegant approach to boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or cutlets of pork, turkey or veal.

Couscous, Pork And Apricots

Pasta With Wild Mushrooms

Braised Moroccan-Style Lamb With Dried Prunes, Almonds and Apricots

Carrot Wraps
Chef Ana Sortun, a chef who has a wonderful restaurant in Cambridge called Oleana, presented a delicious carrot “shawarma” at the recent Worlds of Healthy Flavors conference at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, Calif. Her husband is a farmer, and at this time of year she i’s always looking for ideas for using the carrots he grows. These wraps are inspired by Ana’s, but have a slightly less complex paste/sauce than hers. (It is also more Georgian than Turkish.).

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Mushrooms

Apricot Steamed Pudding

Lamb Shanks Braised With Apricots and North African Spices

Chicken With Apricots
Chicken with dried apricots is hardly a new idea, but I had issues with its most common interpretations. For one thing, they were almost always cloying; the routine addition of cinnamon and cloves does nothing to offset the apricots' sweetness and makes the dish taste more like dessert than dinner. For another, they were usually stewed rather than braised, turning the chicken skin sodden. I brown the chicken in a nonstick skillet with no fat, and that works well. A tablespoon or two of butter, stirred in at the end, will make the sauce richer. Or you can render some bacon, remove it, and brown the chicken in the bacon fat, then crumble the bacon and stir it in at the end of cooking. Finally, any dried fruit can be used, or a combination; with the short cooking time, even prunes will remain intact. But be aware that fruit dried with sulfur (the common method) becomes tender much faster than fruit dried organically, which needs a couple of hours of soaking before cooking.

Barley, Risotto Style

Beet Greens, Green Garlic and Barley Gratin
I use a certain formula for Provençal gratins combining grains and vegetables. I cook the greens and garlic, and then toss them with a cup of cooked grains, three eggs, a half cup of milk and some Gruyère cheese. I happened to have purple barley in my freezer when trying out this recipe, but you can use any type of barley, brown rice or arborio rice.

White Bean Puree

Chicken Milanese With Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Salad
A classic veal Milanese consists of pounded veal cutlets or chops that have been breaded in crumbs and sometimes Parmesan, then fried until the coating is burnished and brittle. Accompanied by a crisp, bright salad, it’s a meal both cooling and rich. In this version, chicken breasts replace the veal, and a salad of tomatoes and mozzarella tossed with garlicky basil oil acts as the foil to the meat. If you want to work ahead, you can coat the cutlets in crumbs up to 4 hours ahead. Store them on a wire rack in the fridge. But try to serve them freshly fried when their coating is at its crunchiest.

Cucumber Pasta

Fusilli With Tomatoes, Eggplant and Pine Nuts

Green Garlic Tabbouleh
This heady version of classic tabbouleh salad is for garlic lovers only. Instead of the salad relying solely on parsley, the green garlic stems add intensity and pungency to the mix, while a touch of mint adds freshness. You can tone down the garlic flavor by increasing the parsley-to-green-garlic ratio if you like, or vice versa. And if you can’t get young green garlic with floppy, soft green stems, use scallions or ramp greens instead. Garlic chives will also work. This is best made in late spring when green garlic is just coming into season; it will be at its most tender and mildest then.

Bulgur and Lentil Salad
The best lentils for this hearty salad are French green lentils or black beluga lentils. They’re more likely to stay intact while cooking than brown lentils.

Mixed Greens and Tomatoes With Raspberry Vinaigrette
