Vegetarian

We set out to create a simple and versatile carrot side that would work with a wide range of dishes. Roasting carrots draws out their natural sugars and intensifies their flavor­—but the high heat can cause them to become dry, shriveled, and jerky-like. Using a spiralizer to cut the carrots into uniform 1/8-inch noodles ensured that the carrots cooked evenly, and cooking them covered for half the roasting time steamed them slightly and prevented them from drying out.

In this sautéed butternut squash recipe, vinegary, caramelized onions and black olives add sweet, salty and tangy flavors. Other hard winter squashes, such as hubbard or red kuri, work nicely in this dish as well.

This summery pasta is just as much about the vegetables as it is about the pasta itself. The star of the dish is the roasted eggplant, which caramelizes and softens in the oven. Those tender browned cubes then get tossed with cooked pasta and a quickly made sauce of fresh grated tomatoes, capers and chile flakes. Because the tomatoes need to be ripe and soft enough to fall into a purée when you rub the cut sides over the holes of a grater, heirloom tomatoes (which haven’t been bred for sturdiness during shipping) are a good choice here. But any juicy, flavorful, fleshy tomatoes will work.

When preparing tofu for frying, we've always blotted it dry and tossed it in cornstarch, which absorbs exude moisture and ensures a crispy exterior and better browning. Recently we came across anoter method. Soaking the tofu in a hot-water brine and then letting it drain for 15 minutes before frying. In the end, we got the best results by marrying old and new. We found that using a brine that was four times stronger than what we'd seen published delivered the best seasoning and crust, and tossing the hot-brinned tofu in cornstarch after the draing period improved the crust even more.

To achieve stir-fried asparagus with a flavorful browned exterior and a crisp-tender texture, we had to start with a hot pan and only stir the asparagus occasionally. This allowed the vegetables to char and caramelize. To ensure that the vegetables cooked evenly, we diluted the sauce with water. This diluted sauce created a small amount of steam, cooking the spears through, before evaporating and leaving behind a flavorful glaze.

To achieve a sauce for our penne alla vodka recipe with the right balance of sweet, tangy, spicy, and creamy, we pureed half the tomatoes (which helped the sauce cling nicely to the pasta) and cut the rest into chunks. For sweetness, we added sautéed minced onions. We found we needed a liberal amount of vodka to cut through the richness and add zing to the sauce, but we had to add it to the tomatoes early on to allow the alcohol to mostly (but not completely) cook off and prevent a boozy flavor.

We first toast the spheres in oil to bring out their nuttiness. We then cook the couscous in a measured amount of water that is soaked up during cooking. This absorption method produces more evenly cooked results than boiling the couscous.

The warm couscous can be tossed with butter or extra-virgin olive oil and salt and pepper for a side dish or cooled and used in a salad. If you’re making a salad, transfer the couscous to a rimmed baking sheet and let it cool completely, about 15 minutes. Our favorite brand of Israeli couscous is Roland.

For great-tasting, cohesive burgers, we start by grinding tortilla chips in the food processor. We then pulse the beans with the chips so the beans maintain some texture. Eggs, and flour, which contains sticky amylopectin, help to hold the burger mix together. To keep the preparation simple, we add no-cook seasonings that bolster the Latin American flavor of the burgers. Letting the mixture sit in the refrigerator for an hour gives the starches time to soak up moisture from the egg, so the patties are easier to shape. 

Dried beans cooked from scratch have a more uniform texture than most canned beans (some of which tend to get mushed in the can). Also, you can control what gets added to the beans (particularly salt). And they cost much less than canned beans. A 16-ounce bag of dried beans yields roughly 5 or 6 cups of cooked beans, while a 15-ounce can of cooked beans yields roughly 1½ cups. Finally, homemade beans freeze beautifully, so why not make a big batch on the weekend and use it in recipes later in the week?

But there are a few things to keep in mind regarding dried beans.

This recipe is healthy comfort food made with simple ingredients that you probably already have on hand. Vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, just everything.

Stop right there. Ummm what is this? Sweet potato noodles? CASHEW SAUCE?  First of all, y-u-m. Secondly, it’s true. I’m going fake-vegan-rogue on you today.