Blender

It’s the surprising combination of sweet, tart, creamy, and crunchy additions that makes me crave this summery soup. This gazpacho is all about the garnishes.

For years, I’ve made smooth pureed pea soups; they’re always a hit at my restaurants. Recently, I was inspired by my mom to try something new. While visiting New York with my dad, she made a chunky pea and carrot stew with slab bacon and cabbage. I decided to go vegetarian here—doing away with even the chicken stock and creating a tea-like herb infusion instead—and to puree only part of the ingredients, making a light pureed soup with whole peas and sliced carrots scattered throughout. The result is a bowl of spring.

This super-savory dressing goes with everything from haricots verts to chopped romaine. But I especially love it in this combination. For parties, I toss the dressing with just the snap peas and spoon the mixture into the endive spears to make a passed hors d’oeuvre.

Tangy goat cheese makes a perfect salad dressing for wax beans (haricots verts work well here, too). To balance the creamy cheese, I toss the sweet tomatoes with a bright, acidic vinaigrette. Together, they make an amazing summer salad.

This simple starter always brings me back to Provence, where I trained as a young chef. There, we served this sea-salty dip with scallions and red bell peppers, but now fennel is my favorite. This dip is so good, it works with any combination of vegetables; pick from my suggestions below. And if you think you don’t like anchovies, you have to try this. The milk mellows the intensity of the fish and the garlic and makes the dip incredibly creamy.

Beverly Bennett, also known as the Vegan Chef (veganchef.com), is a talented and creative cook. A number of her desserts are the ones most requested by my sons. When strawberries are lush and ripe, this is an easy way to create a light and healthy dessert in a flash. Please use ripe, juicy strawberries for this; it just isn’t the same if they’re rock-hard and barely red. Make this before dinner, and it will be ready by the time you want dessert.

This dressing can be made in no time flat and offers an offbeat alternative for jazzing up green salads.

Featured with Big Quesadillas with Black Beans, Broccoli, and Portobello Mushrooms (page 146), you can also pour this offbeat sauce over potatoes, sweet potatoes, and grains.

My older son loves a very simple red lentil soup served at a local Middle Eastern café. It’s good, but to my mind, not very interesting, so I created my own version, with a little more style and substance. I make this regularly and he rarely clamors for the café version.

The icy strawberry filling in this pie is pleasantly complemented by the luscious whipped cream. The pie tastes just like a margarita—the tequila flavor adds quite a zing. The recipe calls for freezing the whipped cream on top of the pie, but you can also freeze just the strawberry part and add the whipped cream when you serve the pie.

This gluten-free, dairy-free, no-cook tart relies on dates and pecans for a sturdy crust, maple syrup for sweetness, and bananas and coconut for tropical flavors. The cashew “cream” is made by grinding cashews with water and vanilla-bean seeds. Soaking the nuts overnight in water ensures a puddinglike texture once they are ground. All in all, it makes an enticing dessert, even for those without food allergies or sensitivities.

Lightweight, airy chiffon pies are potluck favorites for a reason. The no-bake filling is stabilized with gelatin and lightened with egg whites, resulting in a sturdy yet ethereal tart that can be made well ahead of serving time yet still hold its shape.

This Italian sauce is traditionally served over fish, but it works really well as a dressing for salads as well as for grilled and roasted meats. Take care not to overprocess it; you definitely want some texture.

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.

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

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.

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.

Season: September to October. The term mincemeat originated in the fifteenth century, when chopped meat was preserved with a combination of dried fruit, sugar, and aromatic spices. During the seventeenth century, suet replaced the meat and has been used ever since. This recipe is a departure on several fronts: it uses fresh fruit as well as dried, and it contains no suet. In fact, it contains very little fat (only the oil in the walnuts). The result is light and fruity, but with all the rich, warm spiciness of a traditional mincemeat. If you can’t find russet apples, any good eating apple can be used.

The subtle but distinct taste of ginger pairs well with raspberry jam. Apricot makes an equally delicious filling. Or, try sandwiching the cookies with rich chocolate ganache (recipe on page 44).