Vegetarian food - quick and easy recipes - page 21

This easy breakfast “pizza” is a quick way to use up leftover pita bread. In just about the time it takes to brew your coffee, you can have slices of this hot, eggy dish ready. And that beats a congealed triangle of leftover cheese and crust any day. Game plan: You can speed up the preparation even more by grating the cheeses the night before.

Earthy porcini mushrooms and salty Parmesan are a winning Italian combination. Ground and mixed with salt, they become the perfect seasoning for scrambled eggs, roasted chicken, or creamy pasta, pumping up those dishes with savory, umami flavor. Special equipment: You will need a coffee or spice grinder for this recipe.

Without any butter or cream to mask them, the sweet flavors of parsnip and cauliflower come through in this easy, comforting side dish. It’s a healthy alternative to the usual mashed potatoes served with braised short ribs or seared lamb chops. This dish was featured as part of our 5 Recipes for Fall Ingredients. Game plan: This purée can be completely made ahead. Cool and refrigerate until ready to serve. Rewarm, stirring occasionally, in a covered saucepan over low heat.

Guacamole may be the most popular accompaniment to tacos, nachos, or tostadas, but this crema is just as easy and flavorful. Using a food processor to blend an avocado with sour cream, cilantro, and lime juice creates a smooth sauce that works great as a dip for Chorizo Scotch Eggs or as a topping for Black Bean Cakes with Fried Eggs.

This chopped salad is a departure from your average leafy green salad, made instead with chunky, crunchy chopped vegetables. Sweet snap peas, cucumber, and carrots are cut into bite-sized pieces and tossed with cilantro, scallions, and a spicy Thai-inspired dressing for a healthy and flavorful side dish. Add some grilled shrimp or leftover roasted chicken and serve over rice noodles for a healthy weeknight meal or easy packed lunch. What to buy: Look for chile-garlic paste in the Asian sectio...

Dicing raw zucchini and yellow squash for a salad is a fast way to use up these plentiful summer vegetables. Toss them with some red bell pepper, grapes, pine nuts, chopped mint, and a Moroccan-inspired dressing to round out this healthy dish. Paired with a grilled rib-eye or a hearty piece of fish, this salad adds plenty of flavor to a summer meal with minimal time in the kitchen. What to buy: Look for preserved lemons in gourmet grocery stores or online; or you can make your own.

Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you, because this chili is very easy to make. Once you sauté the vegetables, it’s just a matter of dumping in all the spices, then adding the turkey, broth, and beans. The chili needs to cook for about half an hour, then the secret ingredient—chocolate—is added to give the dish a little depth. If you want more spice, add extra jalapeños.

Like banana bread, zucchini bread is an easy quick bread to put together, without the need for any fancy appliances. Just mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl, the wet in another, combine the two, and pour the batter into a bread pan. After about an hour in the oven, and a little time to cool, you’ll have a tender, sweet, flavorful bread to enjoy for breakfast, teatime, or a snack. Special equipment: You’ll need a metal 9-by-5-inch loaf pan for this recipe.

Adding a bit of pumpkin purée, cinnamon, and nutmeg to a basic cream cheese frosting gives it holiday appeal. It’s also easy to make: Just beat butter and cream cheese together in a mixer, then add powdered sugar and spices, and throw in the pumpkin at the end. Use it to frost pumpkin cupcakes, carrot cake, or ginger cake.

Dicing the avocados, cucumber, and pineapple gives this guacamole a chunkier salsalike texture rather than the standard smashed or smooth style. The cucumber and pineapple lighten the mixture and add fresh, sweet, and acidic flavors. Try it on fish tacos or for chip-dipping and margarita-sipping. What to buy: Look for avocados that give slightly when pressed but are not completely soft. We used Hass avocados.

This unique guacamole recipe adapted from Rick Bayless veers from the common avocado, lime, and cilantro combination, and instead is sweet and nutty with the flavors of dried apricots and almonds. Try it with a chicken quesadilla or simply on a tortilla chip. What to buy: Look for avocados that give slightly when pressed but are not completely soft. We used Hass avocados.

Chef April Bloomfield of New York’s The Spotted Pig created this soup version of bubble and squeak, an English dish of shallow-fried vegetables, to use up leftover root vegetables. To make it, sauté a mix of onion, parsnip, potato, Jerusalem artichoke, carrot, fennel, celery root, and turnip, then simmer with broth until tender.

Maxime Bilet, coauthor of Modernist Cuisine and the brand-new Modernist Cuisine at Home,* shared this easy, fun way to give chocolate a popping effect. Just melt your favorite type of chocolate with some butter, then mix in crushed puffed-rice cereal and some Pop Rocks—any flavor you like! Once it cools, break it up and surprise kids or adults with this novel treat. What to buy: You can purchase large quantities of unflavored Pop Rocks–style candy online and at some specialty markets.

Mango lassis are commonly served at Indian restaurants, but their thick consistency and sweet flavor can be like drinking a milk shake with your meal. This savory and refreshing version of the yogurt drink from Chef Susan Feniger of Street restaurant in Los Angeles is flavored with fresh mint and cumin, and lightened by the addition of sparkling water. What to buy: Indian black salt, also known as kala namak, is a sulfurous-tasting salt used in Indian and Pakistani cuisine.

Simplicity reigns in this salad of butter lettuce and pumpkin seeds. The roasted garlic and apple juice in the vinaigrette add a welcome twist. What to buy: If you want to intensify the pumpkin flavor, make the vinaigrette with pumpkin seed oil. Game plan: We roast garlic a few times a week and keep it around to add a subtle layer of flavor to dishes. Put a whole head of garlic in a 400°F oven and roast until the cloves are soft when pressed.