Vegan

Not only do the colors sparkle in this salad, but the flavors do, too. Roasting fresh corn on the cob produces irresistibly sweet little morsels. This is wonderful with roasted fresh salmon.

Try this for your Thanksgiving menu, roasted on the bottom rack of the oven, along with scalloped potatoes or Creamy Garlic Potatoes (page 144), while the turkey roasts on the rack above. If you slice the potatoes ahead, rinse them well in cold water and drain to prevent discoloring.

Roast the potatoes along with hamburgers, steaks, pork chops, boneless chicken breasts, or any other meat you choose. I use the highest oven setting, and they are done in about 15 minutes. Roast the potatoes in the center of the oven if that’s all you are cooking. You can also roast three pans of potatoes at once, on evenly spaced oven racks if you’re cooking for a crowd. If you are roasting meat, place it on the center or upper rack and roast the potatoes on a lower rack.

When carrots are roasted, they develop a sweet flavor that thyme enhances. I serve these carrots with a beef pot roast and roasted potatoes.

Caramelized onions, sweet and succulent, are so easy to prepare in the convection oven. They roast quickly and evenly to a golden caramel color. Serve them as a sandwich filling, a topping for croutons, or on top of grilled burgers. A mandoline makes easy work of slicing the onions.

Roasted peppers are not only good by themselves but they’re a tasty ingredient in spreads and appetizers. Here is my favorite roasting method.

A pan of these vegetables cooks easily along with chicken, Cornish game hens, or pork roast. Consider adding a dessert to the oven, too. All three items can be baked on separate racks. Place the vegetables in the center and the dessert on the bottom rack.

Roasted asparagus spears are crisp-tender with great flavor. They can be roasted at higher temperatures as well (400° to 500°F), in which case the roasting time is short (8 to 10 minutes). If you are roasting meat or poultry at 375°F, that temperature will be fine for the asparagus, too. Don’t add the asparagus to the oven too soon or it will be overcooked.

Roasting brings out all the aromatics in this seasoning mix.

Not only is this sauce delicious with meat loaf, it also goes well with roasted chicken or salmon.

This updated classic soup of Mexico is easier to make when you let the convection oven do the cooking. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice to each bowl when you serve it.

Roasted garlic becomes sweet, losing the sharp pungency that makes raw garlic so powerful. You can spread roasted garlic like butter on bread or vegetables. Add it to soups, sauces, and dressings, or smear it onto a pizza. You can roast a number of whole heads at one time.

If you make this ahead of time, keep it refrigerated but bring it to room temperature before serving.

This is a perfect accompaniment to an autumn meal of roast pork or chicken. You’ll use two oven racks for this recipe. To serve as a vegetarian main course, serve sautéed greens and steamed, herbed wild rice on the side.

The difference between marinara sauce and tomato sauce is this: Marinara is a quick sauce, seasoned only with garlic, pepper, and, if you like, basil or oregano. The pieces of tomato are left chunky, and the texture of the finished sauce is fairly loose. Tomato sauce, on the other hand, is a more complex affair, starting with puréed tomatoes and seasoned with onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf, and left to simmer until thickened and rich in flavor. Make this sauce with fresh tomatoes only when the juiciest, most flavorful ripe tomatoes are available. (Increase the amount of olive oil a little if you make the sauce with fresh tomatoes.) Otherwise, canned plum tomatoes make a delicious marinara sauce.

This recipe makes a large batch of malloreddus, enough to serve eight. You don’t need to cook it all, because it freezes easily and keeps well. Malloreddus can be dressed simply with butter and grated cheese or almost any sauce you like. My favorite version, though, is the first one I ever had, in Porto Cervo many years ago: malloreddus with sausage and tomato sauce (recipe follows).

I love cauliflower, but I know not everyone shares my passion for this nutritious but sometimes bland vegetable. This recipe shows that the right cooking method and complementary ingredients can make a cauliflower dish that can steal the show. As is my way with most vegetables, I skillet-cook the cauliflower—slowly sautéing it with little or no added moisture. That way, more of the essential vegetable flavor is retained and intensified, adding layers of caramelization. Here, too, the companion vegetables enhance the cauliflower, with olives lending earthy complexity, and cherry tomatoes giving acidity and freshness. This can be made in advance and reheated. And if you happen to have some left over, it can be the base for a great risotto, or for dressing a plate of pasta for two.

When summer is in full swing and there are mounds of beautiful purple eggplants available, here’s a wonderfully refreshing salad you can make. Since the eggplant is poached rather than fried, it is a light and healthful dish. The flavors and textures of the eggplant, onion, and potato are harmonious, but you can use fewer or no potatoes and more eggplant.