Vegan

This was inspired by one of my favorite dishes at Veggie Heaven in Teaneck, New Jersey, an all-vegan Chinese-style eatery. It’s quite unlike their signature mock meat dishes, and really, quite unlike anything I have ever eaten in an Asian restaurant.

I’ll always have a pleasant association with this classic Indonesian salad platter, as it was the first meal I had on my first trip to Paris. The tiny, cozy Indonesian restaurant was right next door to our hotel, and coming straight from an all-night flight, my friend Wendy and I were too tired to venture further before a meal and a nap. Served with plenty of rice, the salad (which always combines raw and lightly cooked vegetables) made for a filling and memorable meal. Here’s my Americanized, but still appealing interpretation.

Potatoes and black beans synergize nicely in this offbeat salad. The liquid from the artichoke hearts provides plenty of flavor.

This recipe is one I’ve used for a long time, though oddly, it has never made it into any of my books until now. It’s an attractive, fast main dish salad that can be made all year round (now that fresh herbs of all kinds are always available in any supermarket), though I still prefer serving it during warmer months. Leftovers of this salad are delicious in a wrap the next day for lunch or dinner.

This is one of my favorite things to make in the late summer—a gorgeous platter that’s really less work than it may seem at first glance. It’s an extravaganza of flavor, and though it’s perfect for late summer or early fall, with these particular veggies there’s no reason you can’t make it year-round.

A feast of color and texture, this salad is, in a word, dazzling. As the centerpiece of a meal, it’s a pleasure to make and serve, ready in minutes.

I love this salad with mango, but since it’s not always available, pineapple is a good alternative. If you have more time, use fresh pineapple in season. Cutting it up is really not that time consuming, and the fresh fruit tastes amazing.

Bountiful, easy, and filling, these quesadillas entice with the combination of traditional and offbeat ingredients

When I first blogged about big quesadillas, a number of readers commented about their own fillings. My favorite was this one from Monica Clark-Robinson, an avid and creative cook.

Pizza Margherita is a simple classic, emphasizing fresh tomatoes and basil. This version takes the concept a bit further with a few extra embellishments. It’s a wonderful pizza for late summer or for cool summer evenings when you don’t mind turning on the oven.

Big quesadillas make a filling one-dish meal that is easily completed with a salad on the side. Here is the first of a trio of such fare.

Piled high with embellishments, this pizza is a good one for hearty appetites.

I’d love to be able to buy a good vegan pesto sauce for those times when I’m too lazy to make one, but so far, I haven’t found a brand that doesn’t contain cheese. No matter, once you get going, pesto is easy to make, and the one used on this pizza packs a nutritional punch with spinach. This pizza makes a splendid way to get lots of greens in one shot.

Swiss chard is a beloved kitchen-garden vegetable in Italian cuisine. Combined with white beans and tomatoes, this stick-to-your-ribs dish will satisfy the heartiest of appetites.

I’ve suggested in the box on page 141 that most of the pizza recipes in this chapter double easily if you need more servings, with the exception of this one. This is only because it would take an awfully long time to caramelize four large onions. Not that this can’t be done, but it wouldn’t be a particularly quick meal. However, if time is not an issue and you have a nice large pot for the onions, be my guest and make two of these amazingly delicious pizzas.

The simplicity of this Neapolitan recipe, named for ladies of the night, belies its luscious flavor. Use pitted olives to ease preparation. I especially like this dish made with whole wheat spaghettini.

Here’s a lovely, light pizza that’s perfect for a springtime meal.

Carbonara refers to a dish made with bacon. Here, a bacon substitute in the form of a delicious, smoky tempeh product is used. Look for Lightlife smoky tempeh strips, otherwise known as Fakin’ Bacon, in natural food stores and well-stocked supermarkets.

One of my favorite things about Paris—after the museums, the streetscapes, the Seine, the style, the beauty, and so on—is the green beans. Yes, you read that right. Parisian green beans are ubiquitous, and always served perfectly ripe and tender-crisp. Here at home, perfect green beans seem to be available only for a month or so in the summer. This dish is a nice way to highlight them during that brief window; however, I’m so fond of it that I use frozen green beans so I can make this regularly. I highly recommend using organic whole baby green beans, if you can find them; otherwise, French-cut beans will do.

The time for this recipe may stretch to forty minutes or so, due to preheating the oven and roasting the vegetables, but it’s one of my favorites, and I think it’s worth that tiny bit of extra time. I hope you will, too.