SALADS & VEGETABLES
Celery • Pistachio • Mint
Serves 4
Citrus season in the US comes right in the nick of time during the cold, dreary months of winter and early spring when most people need to amp up their nutrient intake. I prefer Ruby Red grapefruit for this salad, and don’t skimp on the olive oil—it’s what really pulls the dish together.
Endive • Apple • Pear • Walnut Roquefort
Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side
In France, most of the salads you find in restaurants are ultra seasonal—they’ve really stayed true to the notion of eating with the seasons. This classic combination shows up on menus come fall. Endive is commonly used as a bitter green in Mediterranean cuisine, often balanced by something sweet, such as pear or apple. A crisp, tart apple works best here, such as a Honeycrisp or Granny Smith.
Carrots • Radicchio • Avocado • Feta
Serves 4
This lovely layered salad makes use of Parisian heirloom carrots, more commonly referred to as Tonda di Parigi. That’s right—carrots grown from heirloom seeds in France and Belgium with an Italian name. They’re the size of a radish and, at first glance, look like tiny pumpkins. In addition to their unique look, they are also a particularly sweet carrot. You can usually find them in the frozen vegetable case at the grocery store. However, this dish is just as delicious with organic baby carrots, too.
Romaine • Carrot • Dill • Balsamic
Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side salad
When you buy fresh foods at the peak of their seasonality, even the most basic ingredient can be deeply flavorful. This salad is the perfect representation of that.
Beet • Sheep Cheese • Basil
Serves 4
Remember the movie where Paul Sorvino’s character is slicing the garlic paper-thin? This raw root vegetable salad definitely benefits from the same treatment, which is why I recommend that you invest in a mandoline to make it. Slicing beets and carrots as thinly as possible gives them a sweeter, less “root-y” taste, which pairs perfectly with sheep’s milk cheese and fresh basil.
This recipe is a fantastic opportunity to do what you want with a dish. If you like a bit more beet and less carrot, or want to add arugula, change up the cheese, or try walnuts or hazelnuts instead of almonds . . . that’s the joy of cooking! You could even omit the dressing called for here and use Wild Vinaigrette in its place.
Serves 4 to 6
Jerusalem artichokes, also known as sunchokes, are neither from Jerusalem, nor botanically related to globe artichokes. Rather, these root vegetables are actually a relative of the sunflower and look like knobby potatoes. They have a subtle, nutty flavor and are perfectly suited to roasting, mashing, or in this case, slicing and baking into crispy chips. Not only are sunchokes delicious, they’re also prebiotic powerhouses.
Tomato • Cucumber • Almond
Serves 4
Have you made a chilled tomato soup when the tomatoes were in season and vine-ripened by the summer sun? Their perfumed sweetness makes any other tomato seem mealy and bland in comparison. So while this dish is really simple to make, the main ingredient can make or break it. Restaurants often try to disguise the quality of their tomatoes by adding sugar, but if your tomatoes are at their seasonal peak, you won’t need the added sweetener. This Catalan version is pureed with almonds for a little more richness and body.
Cucumber • Walnuts • Rice • Cracked Pepper • Egg • Feta
Serves 2
I thought long and hard about how to put my own spin on this one. The classic version is absolutely perfect—especially when tomatoes are in season. But I wanted to do something with a little bit of a twist, creating a sort of salad parfait by layering rice with traditional Greek salad ingredients and topping them with a savory egg. This is hearty enough to be a main dish.
Pea • Scallion • Creme
Serves 4
St. Barts is a French colony in the Caribbean, and it inspired this brightly colored cold soup that’s perfect for the warmer months. After all, France is known for its velvety chilled soups.
Sunchoke Chips • Olive Oil • Lemon
Serves 6
In Greece, (HOR-tah vrah-STAH) refers to collecting wild greens and braising them with a bit of lemon and olive oil. Once you’ve mastered the basic technique, try using whatever variety of greens you come across, either at the market or from your garden—from the tops of beets and turnips, to dandelion leaves, kale, escarole, or collards. There are wonderful Asian greens that can be used, too. Some people, like my grandmother, save and drink the cooking water to get every last bit of nutritional goodness. I remember taking a sip of this “green juice” when I was a little girl and thinking I’d never tasted anything so awful—it’s not for the faint of heart! Luckily, you can reap this magical liquid’s benefits without drinking it by making Yiayia’s Horta Toner. You can also save the water and use it to make a simple vegetable stock.
Potato • Vegetables • White Wine • Olive Oil
Serves 8
If you really want to understand exactly how generously olive oil is used in Greek cuisine, then you need to try this braised vegetable dish—just don’t freak out when you see the quantity of EVOO called for. It’s a lot, but a Greek cook would probably use twice as much! The idea is to flavor the vegetables with the natural nutty-fruit flavor of the oil while making the vegetables super soft and aromatic. Similar versions can be found in the cooking of Italy (), France (ratatouille), and Spain (). I make this dish with two different types of potato—white russet and yellow (unlike traditional versions, I leave mine unpeeled to reap all that great fiber)—along with eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, onion, and garlic, although you could swap in any vegetables you like. Choose a healthy-looking eggplant that’s firm to the touch, and the thickest zucchini you can find, and keep everything in a circular pattern when layering the vegetables for the prettiest presentation. This dish is best cooked in a Dutch oven or earthenware baking dish that can comfortably hold a layer of vegetables about 4 inches deep. For the best flavor, let the dish rest for a few hours. The juices released by the vegetables will reabsorb and make this dish super tasty. I always felt that aside from the quality of vegetables and olive oil (which is really important), allowing the dish to “sit” was one of the secrets to making a star-worthy .
Sprouted Wheat • Feta • Paprika • Ricotta
Serves 6 to 8
This recipe is an updated rendition of the classic spanakopita, a Greek spinach pie usually made with flaky phyllo dough. This version instead uses a dough made from sprouted-wheat flour and olive oil, with just a bit of butter incorporated into the final product. I have also added ricotta to make the filling nice and creamy.