Vegetables

My favorite food group.

Four-Bean Salad with Green Romesco

Come summertime, you’ve got a lot of options: skinny haricots verts, fat Romano beans, or classic, stemmy green beans—and all work here.

Black Lentils with Crispy Garlic and Labne

They appear expensive and complicated, but are actually pretty cheap and can be cooked just like pasta.

Just-Cooked Cabbage with Butter, Anchovy, and Lemon

This is an excellent opportunity to use any leftover fat from something you may have just cooked in that same skillet (chicken thighs, pork chops, steak) to cook many vegetables.

Sticky Roasted Carrots with Citrus and Tahini

To keep things decidedly savory, the carrots are also roasted with red onion that’s taken a bath in lemon juice, because the only thing better than a roasted onion is a roasted pickled onion.

Mustardy Green Beans with Anchovyed Walnuts

The key is to have just-cooked green beans, lightly dressed and topped in a tangy, mustardy dressing, with toasted, garlicky, anchovyed walnuts.

Smashed Cucumbers with Sizzled Turmeric and Garlic

It’s hard to say how this salad-y number is best served—because the answer is “with everything and all the time.”

Celery and Fennel with Walnuts and Blue Cheese

Unfortunately for celery, the nicest thing most people can say about it is that they like to eat it with their buffalo wings; but the merits of this very good and underrated vegetable are plenty, and well . . . I LOVE CELERY.

Escarole with Mustard and Spicy Guanciale Bread Crumbs

The nutty, umami-y nutritional yeast acts as a lighter, brighter parmesan.

Clam Pasta with Chorizo and Walnuts

Even at the most suspect red-sauce Italian restaurant, I’ll always order the linguine alle vongole, because like pizza, even at its worst, linguine with clams is still pretty great.

Sour Cream Flatbread

There’s no kneading involved (just mixing), and the only tools you need are a bowl, a spoon, and your hands.

Buttered Zucchini Omelette

Tip this little creation onto a plate and dab a little butter on top if you have extra.

Crispy Chickpeas and Lamb with Greens and Garlicky Yogurt

Often, I just toss them with greens and top them with a fried egg, but when I want ground meat, I’ll turn the chickpeas into a legitimate dinner with crispy spiced lamb and garlicky yogurt.