Vegetarian

This sweet and savory comfort food fiesta always hits the spot; is packed with fiber, potassium and disease-fighting antioxidants; and requires zero tortilla stuffing or rolling. I beg you to try this vegetarian wonder as is, but if you or a loved one is prone to “where’s the meat?!” meltdowns, go ahead and add some shredded chicken or browned chicken sausage to your pot. — Serena Wolf

For a creamy, rich green gratin with a crisp, flavorful bread-crumb topping, we started with a mixture of kale and Swiss chard. Sturdy kale kept the gratin fluffy and tall; Swiss chard collapsed when cooked, but its plentiful tender stems added bulk. Steaming the greens in a Dutch oven cooked them quickly and eliminated the need for blanching or sautéing in multiple batches. To keep the gratin from being liquid-y or sogging out the crumb topping, we kept the amount of cream to 1 cup, just enough to give the dish a silky richness.

For those of you who love lasagna's edges, where sticky tomato meets crisp cheese, this whole dish is for you — even the middle. A tube of tomato paste here mimics the deep flavors of sun-dried tomato. Frying a few generous squeezes caramelizes the tomato's sugars and saturates the olive oil, making a mixture that's ready to glom onto anything you stir through it. Here, it’s white beans, though you could add in kale, noodles, even roasted vegetables. Then, all that’s left to do is dot it with cheese and bake until it’s as molten or singed as you like.

Spiced chickpeas are crisped in olive oil, then simmered in a garlicky coconut milk for an insanely creamy, basically-good-for-you stew. While the chickpeas would be good as a side dish, they are further simmered with stock, bolstered with dark, leafy greens of your choosing and finished with a handful of fresh mint. When shopping, be sure to avoid low-fat coconut milk, coconut milk meant for drinking or cream of coconut: All are very different and would not be suitable here.

This is a great weeknight one-dish dinner, and vegetarian (or vegan if you like) to boot. It is from the cook Adeena Sussman, who divides her time between New York and Tel Aviv, where pearl (or Israeli) couscous is called “p’titim,” meaning flakes.

Protein-rich chickpeas make this a hearty vegetairan option. This make-ahead salad is a real crowd pleaser.

Ancient American grains like amaranth, chia and quinoa are making a comeback due to their versatility and nutritional content. Alton Brown shows how to make the most of these very old kitchen newcomers.

We like serving the eggplant in its charred skin, but the cooked flesh also can be scooped into a bowl, mashed, and mixed with the herbs, then finished with olive oil and lemon juice. Look for smooth, unblemished eggplants, and leave the stems on when halving them.

A whole roasted cauliflower is beautiful to behold, and it becomes a knockout party dish served with this agrodolce sauce. Agrodolce, the Italian version of a sweet-and-sour sauce, uses raisins and honey for sweetness and vinegar for the sour element. Capers, celery, leeks, and roasted peppers — here we use yellow peppers from a jar; you can also use red — add to the flavors. It can be served with fish, vegetables, or pork chops, so it’s a terrific sauce to have in your tool kit.

In this vegetarian sheet-pan meal, crisp tortillas are topped with chile-laced black beans, sweet roasted peppers, avocado and plenty of crumbled queso fresco or grated Cheddar. A cumin salt, flecked with lime zest and sprinkled on right at the end, adds both brightness and a musky spice flavor. You will need 3 sheet pans for this. If you have only 2, crisp the tortillas in a skillet on the stovetop instead of in the oven.