Root Vegetable

Inspired by the robust cooking of Alsace, a region in northeastern France bordering Germany, this flaky pie features a rich filling of potatoes, Comté (or Gruyère) cheese, leeks, and garlic-infused cream. Rather than adding the cream to the filling at the beginning, it is poured through the vents on top of the pie only after the pastry has turned golden brown, and then the pie is baked ten minutes more. This allows the crust to crisp properly and keeps the potatoes from soaking up all the cream before the pie has finished baking.

The lattice top is taken to a new level with this yellow-and-green basket-weave design made from strips of summer squashes. The tart offers as good a reason as any to head to a farmers’ market—or, if you’re lucky, your own garden—for zucchini and yellow squash. Use a mandoline or other adjustable-blade slicer to slice the squashes lengthwise.

Combined with garlic, fresh chile, walnuts, olives, and Parmesan, the humble scallion is the basis for a delightfully earthy, toss-together topping for puff-pastry squares. As the tartlets bake, the scallions caramelize, turning golden, sweet, and intensely flavorful. Instead of individual tartlets, you can form the dough and filling into two large tarts: Roll out and cut pastry into two eight-inch squares, divide filling evenly between crusts, and bake thirty minutes.

Thin slices of roasted red, golden, and striped beets overlap atop a combination of ricotta and goat cheeses to produce a stunning shingled tart. The beets are sprinkled with grated fontina before baking. Use beets in a variety of colors if you can find them.

Chopped fresh rosemary, grated parsnip, and cheese flavor the crust of these sensational little tarts. More cheese is sprinkled over the apple-and-onion filling. The tarts are perfect for an autumn picnic, harvest party, or other outdoor occasion.

It’s hard to improve upon a standard, but this recipe for chicken potpie does just that. Each individual serving is topped with a ruffle-edged round of herb-flecked dough. The filling contains all the usual, well-loved components, but the creamy sauce is brightened with lemon zest.

Baby leeks, sautéed until meltingly tender and arranged end to end, top this showstopping first course. Other components include Niçoise olives and two types of cheese—one fresh (Pavé d’Affinois, a soft cow’s milk cheese similar to Brie); the other aged (Parmigiano-Reggiano). If you can’t find baby leeks, you can use regular leeks, or if it’s springtime, look for ramps at a farmers’ market.

Their subtle sweetness and affinity for spices make carrots a natural choice for other baked goods besides the more familiar cakes and muffins. Here, they provide an unexpected flavor for individual tarts with another surprise: pastry crusts coated in crushed gingersnaps.

In dessert making, sweet potatoes are best known as the filling for a rich, dense, single-crust Southern pie. Yet they become surprisingly light when baked in a soufflé. Here, layers of paper-thin phyllo dough overlap to form a crisp pie shell, which stands tall as the filling cools and sinks (this is one soufflé that’s supposed to fall).

Marinated peppers paired with potatoes is another star addition to an antipasto platter, and is equally brilliant served alongside The Spaniard (page 14). This dish will hold for up to three days in the refrigerator and tends to taste better when the potatoes have time to absorb the marinade. If you do prepare it in advance, make sure you bring it up to room temperature before serving.

People can be, well, persnickety, about parsnips. We think they are the unsung heroes of the veggie bin: We know them to be sweet like carrots but also have a wonderful, earthy flavor. The ground coriander used here adds an evocative fragrance, and brown sugar helps to enhance the parsnips’ natural sweetness.

Beets are so sweet and delicious that at the restaurant we try to feature them as often as possible. We also try to make things a little bit more interesting by adding pecorino to the beets instead of traditional goat cheese. FYI, the longer the beets are marinated, the better they tend to taste, so plan to prepare this dish in advance.

Fennel is a staple ingredient at the Shop. It’s extremely versatile and just as delicious thinly sliced into a salad as it is roasted as an accompaniment. Don’t discard the green fronds; they are very flavorful, and you can use them for the Fennel Risotto (page 77).

Carrots are often underappreciated, and we think they are one of those incredible vegetables that is worth another look. We were inspired to re-create a modern version of a classic Jewish dish called tzimmis, which is served to welcome in the new year. With its great balance of savory carrots, refreshing mint, and lemon juice, plus crunchy, earthy walnuts and sweet honey and prunes, this is one of our go-to roasted veg dishes at the Shop. Serve warm or at room temperature.

We serve this comforting and nostalgic Thanksgiving favorite throughout the fall and winter months. Yams are sweet on their own, so you don’t want to overdo it with the marshmallows. Here we provide just enough to give you a sweet taste every few bites. Candied yams are a natural for the Gobble, Gobble Balls (page 39), of course, but try them with the Spicy Pork Meatballs (page 21) too.

We love turnips and don’t want you to pass them by the next time you’re at the market. When cooked right, their earthy flavor is seriously irresistible. At the Shop people go crazy for them. The kick from the horseradish brings out the natural sweetness, and the sour cream adds a tangy, rich element. We love these with the Salmon Balls (page 34) or Venison, aka Bambi, Balls (page 42).