Vegan

A pretty mix of Provençal vegetables, grilled simply and dressed up with the homemade basil aioli. You can also include other vegetables, such as halved baby beets, quartered bell peppers, and thickly sliced red new potatoes (all of which take 10 to 15 minutes to grill).

This tahini-based sauce serves as the foundation for mezes like hummus and baba ghanouj throughout much of the Mediterranean, but it's also a wonderful sauce in its own right, showing its versatility by adding a nutty, lemony hit to the kùfte or to vegetables or fish.

The small, knobby tubers called Jerusalem artichokes grow wild all along the Eastern Seaboard, and southerners have long prized their sweet, nutty crispness in turmeric-spiked relishes and pickles. Countless cooks south of the Mason-Dixon Line have inherited a yellow-stained index card that reads something like this.

You can practically live on this salad in sultry weather. It tastes bright and fresh and is satisfying without being heavy.

You would be hard-pressed to find something more refreshing than watermelon. This cooler is easy to make, beautiful to behold, and not too sweet. You'll want a pitcher of it in the refrigerator all summer.

Roast the potatoes until the skins are crispy

Think of this as "panzanella verde." There's a lightness here and an herby earthiness that make this the kind of salad you really want on the hottest of summer days.

Any simple grilled meat would work well alongside this stunning side dish—the long, thin folds of zucchini have visual élan to spare, perking up every plate they touch.

Sealed jars may be stored in a cool, dry, dark place for up to one year. Unsealed jars must be refrigerated and jam must be used within a few weeks. For an even quicker jam, skip the canning instructions, ladle hot jam into clean jars, and store the jam in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Substituting rice vinegar (instead of cider or wine vinegar) produces a pickle that's less tart.

Soba are buckwheat noodles and cook very quickly.

Knowing that every Japanese cook would have strong opinions on the preparation of white rice, Ruggiero counted on her friend Ryuji Inoue, originally from Kyushu, Japan, for guidance. The result is fluffy and slightly stickier than Chinese rice. Even without a rice cooker, the rice comes out just perfect.

Ruggiero couldn't figure out what made the salad dressing at New York's Natori so irresistible and was shocked when she finally got the secret ingredient out of the sushi chef: grated apple. Nor would you ever guess it from a bite of this dressing, since it's not at all sweet or fruity, just perfectly balanced and lip-smackingly delicious. Its slight pulp extends the unctuous richness of avocado and complements the clean assertiveness of watercress.

Preserved lemons are perhaps most at home in Moroccan dishes, but we love their complex, bright flavor and aroma in all kinds of soups, stews, and salads. We've adapted Mediterranean-food authority Paula Wolfert's quick method and made it even faster by blanching the lemons first. If you manage to find Meyer lemons, this is a great way to capture their unforgettable taste and perfume.

You'll be amazed that anything this simple could taste so good, not to mention that all this garlic—yes, two heads, not two cloves—can produce such a seasoned, mellow taste.

Here, quickly sautéed greens get some spice and a kick of heat (thanks to red-pepper flakes)—and they become an ideal partner for the Buffalo salmon<\a>.