Vegetarian

The richness of smoky grilled vegetables is well complemented by the creaminess of Humboldt Fog.

Eggplant is a dinnertime staple on the southern Italian island of Sicily, where the vegetable is known as melanzane and might appear as involtini (rolled up with a filling) or caponata (the sweet-and-sour cooked vegetable salad). These are both first courses, but with a little tweaking, you can make them substantial enough for the main event. We fell for the dishes at the Anna Tasca Lanza cooking school in Sicily, where the late founder’s daughter, Fabrizia, teaches them.

This is an adaptation of a Turkish recipe, a sweet and savory combination of lentils, onions and carrots that can be served hot or at room temperature, as a main dish or a side.

I’m not anti-recipe (obviously), but some things just don’t need them — and most vegetable soups fall into that category. Here are easy-to-follow instructions for making vegetable (vegetarian and, for the most part, vegan) soups with common ingredients, a variety of choices and terrific flavor. Print the following page, stick it on your refrigerator and work your way through it. By the time you’re done — 12 days or 12 weeks later — you’ll never again need a recipe for vegetable soup. Promise.

Apolinaras and I ventured back to HMart on Super Bowl Sunday and enjoyed big bowls of udon soup for lunch from the Japanese section of food court. We always go back and forth on what to order because everything looks so tasty, but I think we made a good choice, because the soup was just delicious and packed with thin slices of tofu, seaweed, green onions, and broccoli– so good! We’d also never had udon noodles before and had a great time slurping them up.

Home turf: California

Local flavor: In health-conscious California, chili is as likely to be made without meat as it is with it. No self-respecting Texan would sign off on chili with beans, squash, and bulgur—but this lean, mean dish is as delicious as it is healthful.

Make it a meal: continue the Cali fantasy with whole grain bread, an arugula salad with mushrooms and garlicky vinaigrette, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (California, $8 per six-pack).

Beans baked very slowly for several hours develop a creamy texture, while the liquid they cook in, which thickens to a syrup, acquires a caramelized flavor. The kale practically melts in this casserole, going from bitter to sweet. I love using lima beans in this dish because they’re so big and their texture is so luxurious.

When you make a vegetarian curry, you can choose from among sturdy candidates such as potatoes, turnips, carrots, and sweet potatoes; firm-tender vegetables such as cauliflower, green beans, winter and summer squash, and peas; and heartier ones like chard and kale. If there is any rule, it’s that the colors in the bowl shouldn’t be drab or monotone. Spices are king in a curry. Assemble your own concoction or purchase a good powder or potent paste. Whether it’s mild or spicy sauce is up to you, but take care not to overwhelm the vegetables.

When you make a vegetarian curry, you can choose from among sturdy candidates such as potatoes, turnips, carrots, and sweet potatoes; firm-tender vegetables such as cauliflower, green beans, winter and summer squash, and peas; and heartier ones like chard and kale. If there is any rule, it’s that the colors in the bowl shouldn’t be drab or monotone. Spices are king in a curry. Assemble your own concoction or purchase a good powder or potent paste. Whether it’s mild or spicy sauce is up to you, but take care not to overwhelm the vegetables. 

A confession: Every Thanksgiving I cringe (I hope not enough for others at the table to notice) when the inevitable dish of marshmallow-topped or otherwise candied sweet potatoes appears. Sweet potatoes possess such an individual, earthy sweetness of their own, I can’t help but wonder why cooks push it into overdrive? Here is a recipe that gives Thanksgiving sweet potatoes a slight spin, keeping the sweetness in check with savory and piquant complements: black beans and radishes in a salad.