Vegan

Marinated peppers paired with potatoes is another star addition to an antipasto platter, and is equally brilliant served alongside The Spaniard (page 14). This dish will hold for up to three days in the refrigerator and tends to taste better when the potatoes have time to absorb the marinade. If you do prepare it in advance, make sure you bring it up to room temperature before serving.

Marinated button mushrooms are typically included in an antipasto platter, but they make a great solo starter too. Use your favorite combination of wild or domestic mushrooms and, for a heartier dish, try swapping the white wine for red. These mushrooms will last for up to a week in the refrigerator.

This jewel of a salad is the prettiest way to welcome in the cooler months. We use the firm fuyu persimmons, which have a crunch similar to that of apples. The pomegranate seeds add a gorgeous touch and a resounding sweet and tart pop of flavor.

This vinaigrette is fabulous spooned over roasted veggies and grilled eggplant.

People can be, well, persnickety, about parsnips. We think they are the unsung heroes of the veggie bin: We know them to be sweet like carrots but also have a wonderful, earthy flavor. The ground coriander used here adds an evocative fragrance, and brown sugar helps to enhance the parsnips’ natural sweetness.

Kabocha is a Japanese winter squash or pumpkin that has a slight sweetness that we accentuate by simmering it with sugar. You can substitute peeled butternut squash if your market doesn’t carry kabocha, but look for it. These days it’s often in bins at the bottom of supermarket produce aisles.

Sherry vinegar is another gift to the pantry from Spain that we keep alongside our saffron and olive oils.

While we love the snap of quickly blanched green beans, we also love this preparation, which leaves the green beans almost meltingly tender. They’re ready when they are completely soft and cooked through, and all the delicious seasonings have been absorbed by the beans. They are perfect alongside grilled or baked fish, or with our Veal Meatballs (page 48).

Saba (mosto cotto), a reduction of grape must, has a flavor similar to that of balsamic vinegar. It is a largely undiscovered treasure here in the states, but is commonly found in Italian pantries. Our ace recipe tester, Alison Ladman, came up with an easy recipe for a homemade version. You can also use aged balsamic vinegar that’s been reduced by half its volume. If no specialty grapes, such as Concord, are available, a mixture of red and white grapes works well too. A drizzle of this syrup brings out the sweetness of the roasted squash and beautifully offsets the saltiness of the drier ricotta salata cheese.

If prepared with a bit of inspiration, cauliflower can taste complex and flavorful. As with all recipes, the simpler the preparation, the more important attention to detail becomes, and with this dish, it’s all about the high-heat roasting. Don’t be afraid of a few burned edges. Cauliflower is low in sugar, so roast it hot and fast so that it browns well but keeps some of its wonderful crunchy texture. Make sure you don’t overcrowd the roasting pan, as this will cause the vegetable to steam instead of roast. You’ll love this alongside our Bouillabaisse Balls (page 23).

Collard greens are sweet and yummy, but you need to cook them all the way through or they can be bitter and tough. Cooking them in salted water will speed up the process so you can get these greens into your mouth as soon as possible. A little splash of vinegar at the end of cooking helps brighten the flavor. We use these as a bed for the Bolognese Balls (page 6), but they work well with pretty much any meatball in the book.

The upside to these beans is that they are totally delicious. The downside is that they take a seriously long time to soak and cook (plan on starting these the night before you intend to serve them). But please don’t take any shortcuts, or you may end up with undercooked beans, which are not so delicious. For the perfect combination, try Classic Beef Meatballs (page 4) with Classic Tomato Sauce (page 56) over a heap of these beans. They are also a great addition to a salad, and can turn simple greens into a protein-rich meal.

Serve with Veggie Balls (page 16)

The fresh punch of tomatoes, cilantro, and lime makes this sauce a natural fit for Viva la México Balls (page 27), but try it as a dip with chips too. This sauce will keep for up to four days in the fridge.

Chutney adds a ton of flavor to many different dishes. At the Shop we serve this with the Jerk Chicken Balls (page 30) because it’s the perfect counterpoint to the salty-spicy meatballs. Also, definitely try mixing this staple condiment into cooked rice or serve it alongside grilled chicken or fish. Alternatively, spread it on sandwiches, or stir it into a bit of mayo or yogurt for a quick dip. This sauce will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.

We’ve revived this simple, classic French sauce with a combination of extra-virgin olive oil, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and some toasted pine nuts. It’s a summertime sauce that’s typically served with fish, but we like it with many of the meatballs, including Duck Balls (page 31) and Veal Meatballs (page 48). On a hot summer day meatballs can be dauntingly heavy, and a bright, fresh sauce can turn them into a suprisingly light lunch. Since chervil can be tricky to find, feel free to skip it if you can’t find it.

Sure, you can buy barbecue sauce, but wait until you try ours—it’s what we call QC, or quick cook. You probably already have most of the ingredients in your fridge or pantry. This tangy Lower East Side creation is the star ingredient in our BBQ Pork Balls (page 11), but it shines on its own with any grilled meat or bird.

Since everyone has his or her version of this sauce, we spent a lot of time getting this one right. No surprise, the best results came from using the best ingredients. When it comes to tomato sauce, using poor-quality canned tomatoes can leave an acidic or tinny taste in your mouth. So while it is a bit more expensive, we like to use Pomi brand chopped tomatoes (you know, the ones that come in the box). The sauce starts with a careful “sweating” of onions (cooking them slowly, until translucent but not brown, to extract as much flavor as possible), and the flavor continues to build from a nice, long, low-heat simmering after the tomatoes are added.