No-Cook

What an effortless way to add a nutritious side dish to almost any supper. Make up the whole package of slaw mix and snack on the leftovers—the slaw improves with time.

A perfect balance of flavors and textures, this salad is sure to become a favorite first course to enjoy while supper cooks. Replace the pecans with Sweet Spiced Nuts (page 261) for a special touch.

This salad goes with almost any dish. Make it when tomatoes are at their peak.

Sour citrus and spicy peppercorns are perfect foils for salty feta. (See photo)

This sandwich has been a favorite of Moosewood Restaurant’s customers for more than 30 years. (See photo)

While this sandwich is not one of our top sellers, it has its fervent followers, like those of the anchovy sandwich (see page 68). Taking our inspiration from the traditional New Orleans muffaletta—the sandwich of salty meats and tangy olive salad on a thick round roll—we often pair a fresh smoked salami similar to a sopressata with a drier saucisson sec. But you can customize your sandwich for your palate with your own favorites: prosciutto, mortadella, pancetta—any salumi will stand up nicely to the myriad flavors that burst from the marinated cauliflower salad. Don’t let the name cauliflower dissuade you—this is not the boiled bane of your childhood. Rather, it’s a textured mix of tastes in a bold marinade, with raisins and caraway seeds.

Left uncooked, beets are not only crunchy and refreshing but also surprisingly substantial, making a satisfying base for this sandwich. Radish sprouts add a bit of heat as a counterpoint. And the avocado adds the needed element of richness.

This sandwich was inspired by a salad of avocado and celery that Sisha grew up eating in his native Chile. Popular in Chile, where avocados are plentiful (they’re sold by the bagful at stoplights for a song), the salad is dressed with lemon juice and olive oil; folks often add walnuts as well. And so we’ve adapted these elements to a sandwich that balances the creaminess of the avocado with the crunch of the celery, the “high notes” of the lemon with the “bass note” of a walnut pesto. We tossed in some watercress as well, to add some pepperiness. A great summertime sandwich, it’s easy to eat, both in the sense that it’s not at all messy and in the sense that while substantial, the sandwich is also light.

Growing up in Chile, Sisha often ate a breakfast of avocado on toast, adding olive oil, salt, pepper, and sometimes ham. So this simple sandwich evolved, like many breakfast foods, into an excellent snack. Please note that with a simple recipe such as this, it is all the more critical that each ingredient be top-notch. Of course, the obvious place to start is with quality smoked ham. But don’t forget, too, that a perfectly ripe avocado will add the best texture and flavor and that a fresh bakery baguette will have that incomparable French bread taste. As for the butter? Unsalted gives you control over how much and what kind of salt to add. And your sandwich will reach a higher level altogether if made with fresh butter from a local farm.

I’m sure it would be nice to summer in the Hamptons or spend weekends bronzing poolside on the rooftop of a trendy hotel in Manhattan, but the fact is there’s baking to be done. To banish the summertime blues, we at the bakery take turns whipping up our own interpretations of the classic vanilla shake. Use the recipe below as the basis for your own adventures in milk shake mixology. My favorite rendition came about when Kylie, part of the bakery’s prized counter staff, added a piece of chocolate crumb to the mix and created the most amazing brownie shake in the history of frozen beverages. (Thanks, Kylie!) You can do her one better by adding chocolate chip cookies, fresh mint, or—gasp!—a slice of apple pie.

Until the newest wave of mega-size frozen yogurt franchises catch on to the fact that even those of us who can’t have dairy would still like a frosty, probiotic-packed soft-serve now and then, we’ll just have to make do. And by “making do” I mean blending a chilled masterpiece that will have all the teenyboppers banging down your door for a taste. Tell them to take a number.

Inspired by my daily “free lemonade” that I used to make at the old KFC in grade school, here’s a recipe so simple and refreshing that you’ll be shocked there are only four ingredients!