Vegetarian

This salad evolved from my father’s favorite road-trip snack—carrot sticks with roasted almonds, lemon juice, and salt. I’ve punched it up with fresh ginger, lots of parsley, and dates.

This flavored salt takes its name from Russian monks who flavored blackened salt with herbs from the monastery gardens.

Pan-searing, then quickly braising, celery in wine turns the humble vegetable into something worthy of a main course. (Of course, adding marinated lentils, crusty bread, and a fried egg doesn’t hurt.)

Stirring a simple vinaigrette into warm just-cooked lentils helps them drink up flavor so they taste anything but plain. Use French green or black beluga lentils as they will hold their shape best. You can keep a batch of these dressed lentils in the fridge and add to salads, pastas, soups, and more all week long.

This pasta offers the familiar comfort of baked macaroni and cheese but with pops of pleasantly bitter bright green broccoli rabe throughout.

We tend to favor pickles that are bright with acid and low on sugar; anything labeled “half-sour” usually fits the bill. If using sweeter pickles, add a bit more vinegar and salt.

Beets can stand up to a hard roast and plenty of spice. Their sweet earthiness and firm texture mean they’re ideal for making meatless chorizo. If beets aren’t your thing, any sweet root vegetable will work.

This easy chile-spiked cooked tomato salsa pairs well with the beet-topped tostadas but is a great sauce all on its own.

The herbed sauce in this grain dish gets a double hit of punchy dairy: Not as sharp as other acidic ingredients, buttermilk lends a unique tang and yogurt brings body and richness.

Using a sliced whole lemon gives you unbeatable fresh aroma from the skin, bitter complexity from the pith, and tart, puckery juice from the flesh. Thin slices soften evenly and ensure that the lemon plays nicely with the pasta, butter, and Parmesan.

What would happen if you gave winter squash the coq au vin treatment? Layers of flavor from browned mushrooms, wine, and miso that give the classic a run for its money.

You need a bigger bowl and more water than you might think to rehydrate wood ear mushrooms—they nearly triple in size.

With its crinkly texture, savoy cabbage is our go-to for stuffed cabbage, but the regular ol’ green variety also works. Both will become meltingly tender.

The power of a tangy, vinegary brine, but in powdered form. This spice rub brightens and invigorates roasted chicken, seared fish and shines when sprinkled over vegetables before roasting. The cornstarch in the vinegar powder helps form an extra-crispy, extra-tart crust on anything you put it on.

This chile oil combines tons of texture from toasted whole spices and seeds with a just-spicy-enough heat level. Drizzle it over any, literally any, savory food you can think of.

Use this coffee spice mix as a dry rub on chicken, steak, pork chops, or carrots for dinner, or fold into chocolate chip cookies, coffee cake, ice cream, and more for dessert—it plays happily on both sides of the field.

The salad works best with strips of Persian flatbread, but plain tortillas work just as well. The addition of golpar, with its citrusy aroma, really lifts this dish, accentuating the sweetness of the pomegranates and adding a wonderful depth of flavor, so try and track some down if you can.

This Northern Iranian dish traditionally features wild greens. This version is made with braised spinach, herbs, and eggs—and gets a vibrant boost of flavor from lime juice.

This lovely, simple dish is great to have in your fridge at all times. It adds a wonderful, distinctive flavor to any dish it accompanies.