Weeknight Meals

Create endless riffs on this salad by using the bright herb dressing with your favorite grains and vegetables.

Serve this chunky, all-purpose tomato sauce with fish, chicken, pasta, or disks of polenta (shown here).

Store-bought rotisserie chicken adds protein to this lively, aromatic dish; omit it for a satisfying vegetarian main course. If you can't find spelt, use semi-pearled farro or whole wheat berries.

Toasted seeds and nuts add bite to this nutrition-packed salad. We use dried sprouted legumes, which are even more healthful than ordinary beans and more convenient than sprouting your own. (Cooked lentils and mung beans work well, too.) A vibrant chive vinaigrette brings it all together.

Mixing visually striking black barley with raw and cooked vegetables creates lots of flavors and textures. Feel free to substitute the more readily available pearl barley instead.

Chicken thighs are more succulent than breasts and stand up to reheating without drying out.

Polish sausage gives the onions and chiles a rich, smoky flavor.

Stew fruit in parcels to infuse it with vanilla and bourbon, then serve it with a dollop of Greek yogurt (or ice cream).

Toasting the dried chiles first brings out their deep flavor.

This is a gem from my mother's notebook of Nonna Mary's recipes. I remember Nonna Mary serving these tomatoes along with assorted grilled meats during the summer in Cesenatico. They are also a perfect accompaniment to veal cutlets, and together they make a great sandwich, one of my favorite lunches that my mother would pack for me to take to school.

Soft, creamy risotto topped with warm roasted vegetables makes a complete meal in a bowl. If you don't like the idea of standing at the stove and stirring risotto to a perfect consistency, this is the method for you. Thirty minutes in the oven and this risotto comes out cooked to perfection while you and your beloved wind down from your day. If you've made Roasted Winter Vegetables earlier in the week, you can reheat leftovers as a topping here. If not, roast a favorite combination {mine is winter squash, yellow onion, and tomato} in the oven with your risotto.

{sweet and toothsome} Roasting is a no-fuss way to put a lot of vegetables on the table. Roasting brings out the natural sweetness in fall root veggies and winter squash. Roast them in big batches to top Baked Risotto , and throw them into fall and winter salads.

This creamy pesto is indulgent without being overly rich, thanks to heart-healthy avocado and just a touch of olive oil. Also, since it uses a fresh avocado for its creamy consistency, rather than pricey Parmesan cheese, it's less expensive to make than traditional pesto.
It happens to be vegan, but don't let that deter you (if you're the sort of person usually deterred by vegan recipes)—it's fabulous, particularly with fresh heirloom tomatoes. I also like it as a dip for vegetables or slathered over grilled fish or chicken. Use soon after making it though, as the fresh avocado will go brown if it sits for too long.

I see no reason why salads should be limited to greens. This one has a ton of different textures and flavors and is as visually rewarding as it is delicious. Vermont is famous for its fall color, so when I thought of this dish, I wanted all the components to come together on a platter in the same way that autumn leaves fall together in a collage of color on the forest floor. There are bits of roasted squash, blanched squash, pickled squash, and even toasted squash seeds. While I don't like dishes that are so fussy and manipulated they look less like food and more like art, I can't deny that we eat first with our eyes.

Sweet nectarines balance the earthy green peppers in this colorful side.

A salad this simple requires the finest ingredients to make it shine.

Coating the toasted pita in olive oil prevents it from getting soggy when mixed with the vegetables and dressing.

The secret to this flavorful sauce, which is delicious with almost all grilled meat and fish, is to use any herb that looks good at the market. Just be sure to include parsley: It gives the salsa backbone.

High-heat roasting concentrates vegetables' flavor and brings out their sweetness— a big reward for little effort. Use this recipe as a template. Most important: Cut into similar-size pieces, and don't overcrowd the pan.

Oil-poach garlic to make confit, which yields tender, sweet cloves and infused oil. Add the cloves to pan sauces, use the oil for drizzling, or purée them both into a dressing.