While carrots are available 365 days a year, they especially shine in the spring, at their peak season. This recipe brings them to the center of your plate. Carrots are roasted in a brown butter sauce enhanced with floral saffron and piled atop creamy, soft, and tangy labneh, a Middle Eastern yogurt cheese. A handful of chopped fresh parsley and sweet toasted hazelnuts tie it all together. Definitely serve this platter with crusty bread or pillowy pita so you can swipe it clean.
Labneh is made by straining whole-milk plain yogurt until it’s even thicker than Greek yogurt and closer to the consistency of cream cheese. While it was once hard to find outside of Middle Eastern markets, you’ll now find it at some Whole Foods and other well-stocked grocery stores. Otherwise, you can make it quite easily yourself by simply straining Greek yogurt.
More than any other veggie dish in my repertoire, this is the one people request again and again. This recipe originally appeared in my mini-but-mighty Tahini cookbook in 2016, but once I moved to Israel, I made a few changes, like eliminating butter and swapping in olive oil, that reflect the way I cook here. If you can find multicolored carrots, great, and if you can find thinner farmers’ market– style ones, even better. If your carrots are on the larger side, cut them lengthwise so no piece is more than half an inch thick; this softens them up in preparation for their deliciously sweet, lemony tahini glaze. The recipe purposely makes a generous amount of dressing, because you’ll want to put it on everything, from cold noodles to fish and any roasted veggie under the sun. I recommend doubling or even tripling this recipe; the carrots shrink, but people’s appetite for them never does. If you do multiply, make sure to use more baking sheets so the carrots roast, not steam. The carrots are just as good, if not better, at room temperature, making them perfect sit-around buffet food.
Maqluba (Upside Down Layered Rice Cake with Vegetables) recipe and introduction from Lamees Dahbour of Mama Lamees
A good vegetable stock is an important ingredient to have on hand, but supermarket offerings don’t taste like vegetables, and traditional homemade versions are expensive and time-consuming to make. In our recipe, we grind a selection of fresh vegetables, salt, and savory ingredients to a paste that we can store in the freezer and reconstitute as needed. Leeks provide good allium flavor, and a small amount of freeze-dried onions support the fresh flavor of the leeks. Tomato paste and soy sauce provide an ultimate boost.
This recipes was provided by Michael Cimarusti, Executive Chef at Providence in Los Angeles. You can hear more from Cimarusti on his favorite fish techniques and dock-to-dish philosophy in his conversation with contributor Russ Parsons.
Pot au Feu is essentially a beautiful, tender pot-roast that is served in a clear, beef broth studded with vegetables.
There are American, Hungarian, French, Portuguese, African, and Scandinavian variations of the story of Stone Soup—a parable that teaches how each of us can contribute a little to the whole, which then becomes something much greater than the sum of its parts. So many different cultures telling a similar story of neighborliness and gathering around a pot of soup is a lesson in and of itself. Think of all the people in your community right now with whom you could share this wonderful recipe.
Salted herbs are popular in Québec, where they can be found in just about every grocery store. They are easy to make, pack a lot of flavor, and can be used in a variety of ways: as a marinade, as a seasoning in soups and stews, or as a garnish.
This refreshing salad is a wonderful way to spruce up the humble carrot and was inspired by an afternoon I spent with Leila Rohbani, a yoga teacher from Tehran. I had a delightful time with her; drinking green tea from small stoneware cups and talking about our favorite recipes in the bright, airy rooms of her home, which doubles as her yoga studio—an oasis of calm in the hectic city, overlooking a garden filled with fig and Pomegranate trees. This makes a lovely addition to a mezze spread, or you could serve it with feta and bread for a more substantial meal.
Many people have little affection for cooked vegetables, possibly because they are often overcooked. This causes them to lose their inherent crisp texture and natural color and allows vitamins, minerals, and good taste substances to seep out into the cooking water. It is little wonder that many children are unenthusiastic about eating vegetables that have been prepared in such a way as to eliminate their interesting qualities. Some of the crisp texture of vegetables can be preserved by grilling or roasting them. As vegetables have a low protein content, no Maillard reactions take place, but the surfaces do caramelize.