Canned Tomato

Mildly spicy, really homey, and satisfying. We’d like to acknowledge our friend Anne Kenney for the idea for this recipe.

This chunky soup is a satisfying supper in one bowl.

This soup was inspired by the cauliflower curry we regularly make at Moosewood Restaurant. The chutney makes it perfect. (See photo)

This thick, flavorful Southwestern soup comes together easily using pantry items.

Beans, grains, vegetables, cheese—this healthy, hearty dish has it all.

In this delicious omelet, we borrowed the taste of garlic, caraway, and coriander from harissa, the classic Tunisian seasoning. The omelet can also be cut into wedges and served as an appetizer or as part of a tapas or antipasto platter.

Beans and mushrooms are a great combo and quintessentially Italian. Experiment with different varieties and colors of beans.

We think this inventive adaptation of a classic Italian dish is so good that it will soon show up on menus in the old neighborhoods. You never know.

In the Caribbean, red beans and rice are cooked together, but at Moosewood we like to ladle saucy red beans over a bed of fragrant coconut rice and garnish with a little greenery.

There must be as many recipes for chili as there are cooks. This one has the surprising addition of lentils and the smoky spiciness of chipotles.

Inspired by a Southwestern Native American dish, this is a sunny, colorful stew of roasted vegetables in a hot and smoky mole-type sauce.

A hearty stew with a robust taste, just right with the nutty flavor of bulghur wheat.

Tofu, ever the chameleon, lends itself to pairings with a multitude of sauces for nutritious and easily prepared meals. This is a favorite.

Whole wheat and spelt pastas have a pleasant, nutty flavor that stands up to the flavors in this sauce, but any kind of pasta is fine for this recipe.

Rich and delicious Walnut Pesto can be made in minutes in a food processor or blender—it will be ready before the pasta has cooked. Make extra; it keeps well for 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator and is good on boiled potatoes and steamed fish.

This is the basic tomato sauce that I use the most. It takes a bit of time to make, but it’s worthwhile because the sauce is so versatile—and during the hour of simmering I can be doing other things out of the kitchen. So I double this recipe, freeze it, and use it all week. Store extra sauce by allowing it to cool completely, then pour two-cup portions into freezer bags and freeze for up to three months. The classic marinara sauce is great with any pasta shape. But when you’re keeping it simple, why not keep it truly simple? Go with the classic spaghetti.

Caponata is one of the great Sicilian vegetable dishes, often eaten as a relish alongside pork roast or fish. The eggplant-based recipe features a wonderful sweet-and-sour taste, one of the hallmarks of Sicilian cooking—a combination of sugar and vinegar that provides a tingling push-and-pull sensation in the mouth. In my family, we often ate caponata as an antipasto, spooned over toasted bread, and used any leftovers for wonderful sandwiches. It can be eaten hot, cold, or at room temperature, making it the ultimate vegetable dish for a casual party.

Fra Diavolo means “Brother Devil.” In Italy, this refers to a dish that’s sprinkled heavily with black pepper and grilled. But in America the term is associated with spicy hot-pepper sauces, like the lobster Fra Diavolo that became popular in the 1930s and has been a fixture on Italian-American menus ever since. (It is actually unknown in Italy, where they don’t have the same type of lobsters we do.) I make my version of Fra Diavolo with shrimp because it’s lighter and easier for everyday cooking.

The clam and mussel soups that are specialties of Naples and the nearby coastlines inspired this recipe. I’ve added shrimp for more meatiness and dried crushed red pepper flakes simply because I like it spicy, but they’re optional. Whatever you do, be sure to serve this with plenty of crusty bread; the broth is phenomenal to sop up.

Cacciatore means cooked in the “hunter’s style” (which, translated into French, is chasseur and in fact refers to a very similar dish). In many Italian-American restaurants this can be a greasy, overly sweet sauce with dry, overcooked chicken. But this recipe will make you fall in love with Chicken Cacciatore again; it’s really the ultimate in hearty, rustic Italian home cooking.