Root Vegetable

The fiber in lentils helps to lower cholesterol and regulate blood sugar. French green lentils cook more quickly and retain a firmer texture than the more common brown ones.

Aside from supporting your eyes, immune system, and heart, Swiss chard helps maintain bones and may protect against osteoporosis, thanks to high doses of vitamin K and magnesium as well as a healthy dose of calcium. Don’t worry if your pan seems overcrowded with the chard; it will quickly wilt and lose most of its volume as it cooks. Cooking the stems a bit longer than the leaves will ensure they become perfectly tender.

These two members of the cabbage family deliver an interesting twist to standard coleslaw. Both kohlrabi and turnips offer fiber, iron, and vitamin C, and the thick kohlrabi leaves boast a high dose of cancer-fighting phytochemicals.

Kale makes for a surprising alternative to cabbage in this sweet-sharp slaw. Curly kale, the most widely available, is used here; remove the tough stems and center ribs before slicing the leaves.

Vegetables, of course, make healthy snacks, and are especially appetizing when served with flavorful dips. Yellow split peas are the protein-rich basis of one spread; tarama—cured carp or cod roe, used in Greek and Turkish cooking—flavors the other. The roe is soaked in water to remove much of its saltiness, then squeezed of excess moisture. Look for tarama at specialty food stores. Serve dips with crudités and toasted baguette or whole-grain bread slices.

The flavor and texture of these miniature spiced soufflés are reminiscent of sweet potato pie, but with far fewer calories and much less fat.

A mandoline makes easy work of slicing beets paper thin; if you don’t have one, you can use a very sharp knife, but the slices will take longer to dry out in the oven and won’t be as crisp once cooled. You’ll need four rimmed baking sheets to make the chips, or you can bake them in batches.

French green lentils, sometimes called lentilles du Puy, hold their shape well once cooked, making them particularly suited to salads and pasta dishes. Like other legumes, lentils are low in fat and are exceptional sources of folate, iron, and protein, plus other vitamins and minerals. Here, the lentils are combined with whole-wheat pasta shapes called chiocciole (snails), but you can substitute penne or any other short tubular shapes. If you like, grate or shave parmesan over the pasta just before serving.

Rice salads make nice gluten-free alternatives to pasta salads; like the latter, they can be served at room temperature or chilled. This fresh-flavored side uses three types of rice—wild, brown, and brown basmati—but any combination of rices would work well.

Although used with onions and bell peppers here, this pickling brine works wonderfully well for any type of vegetable you want en escabeche, a common preparation in Mexico. In late summer in New Mexico, as the days begin to shorten and nights get cooler, home cooks will often pickle the remaining abundance of their kitchen gardens to enjoy throughout the winter.

Refritos—refried beans—are one of the most common side dishes in Mexican and Southwestern restaurants. Finding a good rendition, though, is rare. Most places use flavorless canned beans for a base—already a poor start. And they don’t take the time to slowly cook and stir them to infuse the mixture with flavor and texture. The best refritos are made from beans cooked from scratch with many different seasonings so the beans absorb the flavors and the cooking liquid is intense and balanced. Here are two recipes for refritos. The first is for black beans cooked from a dried state, which takes several hours to prepare. The second requires just forty minutes and uses canned black beans that are already cooked as a base.

Tacos are served at all the Mexican markets for workers and shoppers who want a quick bite, including breakfast, as the markets usually open at sunrise. In the Southwest, small restaurants offer whole menus of breakfast tacos (my favorite, Taco Taco, in San Antonio, Texas, offers fifteen morning choices). And breakfast tacos and burritos have become an increasing familiar option along with bagels and pastries at most major airports in the United States and at the drive-throughs of many national fast-food chains. Not only are these vegetarian tacos a fiery morning wake-up, they’re good anytime as part of a larger meal, particularly alongside grilled or roasted meats or fish.

These potatoes are buttery, golden, and crisp with a wonderful flavor. Yukon golds are waxy and fry well, finishing with a beautiful golden flesh with browned edges. It’s important to pan-fry them in clarified butter and a little vegetable oil, a mix that can withstand the high heat required to get the potatoes crisp and browned without burning.

Mexico is blessed with one of the largest coastlines in the world, touching two oceans and two seas. Consequently, it has a very rich and diverse seafood culture. One of the centers for great seafood eating, including crab, is the Atlantic port Veracruz. Seafood vendors populate the market, their counters painted in the hottest tropical colors and the marinated catch of the day displayed in huge sundae glasses. Order mariscos of just one type or mix and match—the vendors compete with one another to make bigger cocktails in their own special way. When shopping for fennel, look for ones with tops intact; they add extra freshness to a recipe and a more complete fennel taste. If you cannot find fennel with tops, garnish with one teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon. For extra splash at a more formal party, slices of black truffles (if you want to splurge) or a few drops of truffle oil add elegance.

Native to North America, turkey has always been a celebratory bird (or at least it was celebrated by those who dined on it). Turkey (guajolote, in Spanish) was used for special feasts in pre-Columbian times and was a favorite food of the American Indians. In Mexico today, turkey in mole is still the preferred holiday dish. For Thanksgiving dinner one year at Coyote Café, we raised almost thirty wild turkeys (so much better than the modern domesticated turkey) on open ranchland so they were free to go anywhere and eat anything. The flavor of those turkeys was magnificent! This recipe is a tempting taste of what awaits any traveler to Oaxaca or Puebla, two of the great Mexican mole capitals. Commercially produced mole sauces are widely available throughout most major grocery store chains in the United States. We have used turkey breast for this recipe, but any part of the turkey will work. Note that the turkey must marinate overnight before cooking.

The hearty flavor of these dumplings lends itself to a range of preparations. Tossing with basil pesto is perhaps the most common, but gnocchi can also be served with brown butter and sage or doused in a hearty ragù, like Bolognese Sauce (page 383).

This recipe relies on the natural gelatin in homemade stock to coat and glaze the vegetables after most of the liquid has reduced. Brown stock thickens to a nice glaze and imparts a rich flavor; butter contributes silkiness. Instead of turnips, you can glaze carrots, rutabagas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or onions. If you don’t have brown stock (or prefer a vegetarian version), use apple cider instead (the sugars in the cider should cause it to reduce to a syrupy glaze).