Vegetarian

Cook a meatless meal once a week and you’ll discover the range of satisfying legumes, grains, and vegetables. Here, the supper is a ragout of tomatoes, onions, and chickpeas served over couscous. Into this bowl of rich, warming flavors and textures, stir chopped cooked greens, if you like, for added nutrients.

At Haley House Cafe in Roxbury, owner Didi Emmons gives cooking classes and this vegetarian lasagna gets positive reviews, she says, even from the most skeptical, picky, nay-saying youth. It’s a good way to introduce tofu to kids (there’s mozzarella too). Emmons layers slices of roasted butternut squash with spinach, mashed tofu, tomato sauce, and uncooked lasagna noodles. The noodles soften in the liquid in the dish.

You have to cheat a little to put spring on the plate this time of year. If you want to make a primavera (from the Italian, alla primavera means in the style of spring), you have no other choice. There are no fresh peas, but plenty of frozen sweet ones. Other greens come from markets in warmer climates. You can find plenty of sweet onions and fennel with bushy fronds. There are small carrots and parsnips; these sweet roots give the garnish a little heft.

The center of the quiche will be surprisingly soft when it comes out of the oven, but the filling will continue to set (and sink somewhat) as it cools. If the pie shell has been previously baked and cooled, place it in the preheating oven for about five minutes to warm it, taking care that it does not burn. Because ingredients in the variations that follow are bulkier, the amount of custard mixture has been reduced to prevent overflowing the crust. Be sure to wash the leeks thoroughly to remove any grit.

In this pretty soup, sweet fresh peas are enhanced with a bit of mint.

This dish is best with short molded pasta, such as fusilli, campanelle, or orecchiette. Prepare the cauliflower for roasting after you put the garlic in the oven; this way, both should finish roasting at about the same time.

I had some organic sweet potatoes left from Eva’s farm share, and decided to layer them with an Indian-spiced chickpea mash. The flavors were inspired by Nigella Lawson’s Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry.

This simple side dish pairs your favorite greens with tahini, lemon juice and garlic.