Root Vegetable

Since emigrating from Vietnam in the 1970s, Kia Dickinson has been generously sharing her incredible recipes with everyone she meets, including food editor Ian Knauer. This colorful mix of moist poached chicken, cabbage, carrots, and fresh herbs tossed with a wild, tongue-searing dressing is the quintessential summer salad—cool, colorful, and very fresh. When preparing this recipe, Dickinson uses the leftover poaching liquid to make rice.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text are from Dana Slatkin's book The Summertime Anytime Cookbook. With an appealing assortment of textures and flavors, this simple yet unexpected whitefish preparation will enhance any evening. In case you're not familiar with kohlrabi, it's part cabbage, part root; looks like a small, light green (or sometimes purple) turnip; and tastes like a cross between celery root and broccoli stem. This dish is flexible enough that you can substitute any mild fish, such as halibut, red snapper, or John Dory, or swap the kohlrabi for broccoli or cauliflower.

Whether used as a marinade or as a sauce, a versatile chimichurri complements most any grilled fish, chicken, or meat.

This simple, delicious dish hails from China's Shanghai region. It's a great way to use up leftover rice—if your rice is already cooked, you'll need 3 cups of it.

This fish is steamed on plates, which hold the marinade and juices around the fillets. Be sure that the plates you use have enough of a rim to hold some liquid, and are not larger in diameter than the pan you'll be using to steam. In order to fit the plate on top of the steamer, you'll need a steamer basket that's flat all the way across, without a central protrusion. Many Asian bamboo and stainless-steel steamers have this shape but, if you don't have one, you can substitute a ramekin: Simply place the ramekin on the bottom of the pan, fill the pan with water just to the height of the ramekin, and place the plate on top of the ramekin. In her video demonstration, Chef Cheng uses sole fillets for this dish, but any white, flaky fish such as halibut or flounder, would work well.

In this Spanish-style frittata, the potatoes and zucchini are characteristically creamy and filling. The dish is also a host's friend, since it tastes just right at room temperature.

These bite-size shrimp balls make for ideal finger food—plus, kids will love the name.

What may seem like an incongruous mixture is actually a harmonious blend of ingredients and textures. There are few dishes that illustrate how the seemingly disparate flavors of sweet, sour, bitter, and salty can be successfully combined. One tip: While the melon should be chilled, the other ingredients are their most flavorful at room temperature, so combine the salad just before serving.

This satisfying chowder is sweetened with summer corn and made extra-creamy by adding the milky starch from the cobs.

Favorite Mediterranean ingredients come together in this creamy risotto. Adding the liquid from the tomatoes to the chicken stock underscores the flavor of the fresh tomatoes added at the very end. This is delicious made with any ripe red or orange tomatoes.

This really simple, really beautiful stir-fry of earthy, bright green watercress is a "tumble of yum," in the words of food editor Maggie Ruggiero, who tested Reusing’s recipes.

For a substantial vegetarian spin on köfte(a kind of Middle Eastern meatball), we beefed up grated zucchini with fresh herbs and mashed chickpeas. The accompanying pilaf, which uses both beets and their greens, is brilliantly colored and gets a joyous crunch from slivered almonds.

In Korean kitchens, spicy kimchi (fermented cabbage) is used in all sorts of things, including savory pancakes. This recipe tempers its garlicky heat with mellow sweet potatoes.

When the gang is coming over for poker night, don't order pizza and subs—this is what you should make. Flatiron steak is meaty, tender, and deeply satisfying. Crisped spuds soak up the meat's creamy, woodsy sauce, and we love the simplicity of making a single large hash brown that can be cut into multiple wedges.

Alice Waters, founder and owner of Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California, champions the environmental benefits of organic produce and highlights vegetables’ freshness with simple preparations. In this adaptation of her potato coins, we coax the starch out of waxy, thin-skinned fingerlings to create a silky pan sauce. The faint vegetal sweetness of this dish pairs well with just about anything.

A bit of Spanish chorizo goes a long way, lending another dimension to a skillet full of mouthwatering clams and potatoes.

This hearty potato salad is typically made from sliced potatoes, bacon, onions, and celery. A small amount of bacon fat is used to flavor the vinaigrette that seasons this dish. It is most often served warm or at room temperature for the very best flavor.

Tomatoes, originally native to South America, were not introduced to Italy until the sixteenth century. Now, of course, it's almost impossible to think of Italian cuisine without dozens of delicious tomato-based dishes coming to mind.

We can't get enough of this method for braising potatoes. In this variation, their tenderness is emphasized by an unctuous olive-oil glaze punctuated with fresh chives and tarragon.