Vegetarian

Of all the Thanksgiving staples, I've never been able to get behind candied sweet potatoes. These orange tubers are one my favorite fall vegetables for their warming sweet flavor, and I can't understand why you'd want mask that sweetness with more sugar, and then top it off with marshmallows? In contrast, if I were doing a sweet potato dish, it'd be something more in line with this sweet potato and corn salad.

I was psyched about this recipe from the get-go. I have a growing affection for vegetarian Indian cuisine, and thought the pairing of sweet potato and eggplant couldn't possibly go wrong. This recipe also included a heartwarming little story of a guest bringing this meal over with a few roses for the author, Aum Shanti. I was so locked in that I didn't bother to read the specifics—and when the finished dish emerged, it was a perfectly dry mix of sautéed vegetables. It wasn't repulsive, but nothing was really there to bring it all together.

For a baba ghanoush recipe that would fulfill its potential as a dip full of redolent, smoky eggplant flavor and brightened with garlic and lemon juice, we grilled the eggplants directly over a hot fire until they were wrinkled and soft. To avoid watery texture and bitterness in our baba ghanoush recipe, we drained the flesh of excess fluid before combining it with flavor-enhancing ingredients. 

For potent garlic flavor in our grilled potato recipe, without bitterness or charring, we needed to introduce the potatoes to the garlic-oil mixture not once but three times. So in our final grilled potato recipe we brushed on the garlic mixture before cooking, after parcooking in the microwave, and after grilling.

The most important step in making a lentil salad is perfecting the cooking of the lentils so they maintain their shape and firm-tender bite. There turns out to be two key steps. The first is to brine the lentils in warm salt water. With brining, the lentil’s skin softens, which leads to fewer blowouts. The second step is to cook the lentils in the oven, which heats them gently and uniformly. Once we had perfectly cooked lentils, all we had left to do was to pair the earthy beans with a tart vinaigrette and boldly flavored mix-ins. 

Impatience was the main reason I failed at searing tofu. For years, I had given in to the temptation to poke it, turn it, examine it, annoy it. Then I finally learned that, like any very moist ingredient (fish, mushrooms, tomatoes), the less you bother it, the browner and crisper it will get.

Depending on the size of your grill, you may have to cook the vegetables in multiple batches. When grilling more than one vegetable at a time, be prepared to take each off the grill as it is done cooking. 

This zesty mayo dip would also go well with sliced red bell peppers and celery sticks before dinner; it's amazing how many vegetables kids will eat when they're actually hungry.

Parmigiano-Reggiano adds salty, nutty richness to this ratatouille, which rivals the best oven versions. To speed preparation, feel free to skip the first step of salting and rinsing the eggplant and zucchini (this process draws off any bitter juices). Instead, just remove any particularly seedy and brown parts of the eggplant, or use smaller Japanese eggplants (which also do not need to be peeled). For pizzazz, add chickpeas and pitted, chopped oil-cured black olives.

 I found the recipe upon which this is based in Clifford A. Wright’s first cookbook, “Cucina Paradiso: The Heavenly Food of Sicily.” And it is heavenly. I love the way raisins or currants and saffron introduce a sweet element into the savory and salty mix.