Vegetables

Adapted from Cesare Casella Time: 45 minutes

Goes great with: Salad of butter lettuce, radicchio, roasted pears, and toasted walnuts. What to drink: Red Burgundy or Pinot Gris.

We bought beautiful native green beans and hearty greens at Wilson Farms in Lexington this weekend. There are also plenty of root vegetables just coming into season. I packed a baking dish with butternut squash, turnips, red potatoes, carrots, red onion, radishes, and mushrooms and roasted them for 1 1/2 hours. This isn't a dish that caramelizes the veggies (you need to cover the pan so the roots cook through), but the results are homey and satisfying.

Enchiladas are a blank slate. They can be filled with anything that suits your fancy, from plain cheese to tender, long-braised -- or grilled or stewed -- meats. Hearty vegetables and beans are among my favorite fillings. Under a blanket of chili sauce and cheese, enchiladas are substantial to begin with, so a veggie filling can lighten things a little. I usually turn to mushrooms (loaded with garlic), potatoes, and greens.

Amber cup squash looks like a miniature pumpkin. It requires some work to seed and peel, but you get a meaty flesh that makes a fine vegetarian supper. In this recipe, adapted from “The Farmers’ Market Guide to Vegetables,’’ the flesh is simmered with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and yellow and red bell peppers to create a rich, flavorful stew to ladle over couscous. (You can also use butternut squash, already peeled and seeded if you’re in a hurry.) Before serving, sprinkle a pungent blend of finely chopped fresh chili peppers, parsley, and lemon rind to add a crisp and savory tang.

The weather is cooler and that’s the end of garden tomatoes - at least for the ripe ones. It’s back to the market, back to cans. Canned tomatoes are good for many things, including sauces, braises, and soups. But there’s something about fresh tomatoes (even those that are shipped from far, far away) that enhance cooking. Fresh tomatoes brighten a dish in a way that no tinned tomato can. In the off-season, however, stick with cherry tomatoes. They’re small and shiny red, and more likely to be at least almost ripe.

We like the deeper flavour of dark brown sugar in this recipe, but light brown sugar can be substituted.