Sicilians serve cauliflower sautéed with onions, raisins, and capers as a topping over warm pasta. Eating some cold leftovers of the topping, I discovered that it also makes a good salad. Adding tuna turns it into a satisfying main dish.
Fast Fact: Mark Twain called cauliflower “cabbage with a college education.”
Quick Tip: Adding some lemon juice or vinegar to the water keeps cauliflower white when you cook it.

To make this smoky-flavored eggplant salad the center of a meal, serve it accompanied by oil-cured Moroccan black olives, feta cheese, and warmed pita breads. It also makes a great dip or even a filling for a sandwich. I like making it a day ahead to let the garlic flavor develop and meld with the other seasonings.
Fast Fact: Eggplants with a dimple in the bottom are female and have more seeds than the flat-bottomed male eggplants.
Quick Tip: To make this salad, I prefer using a golden olive oil that has the softer, more fruity flavor of ripe olives.

Two things stand out in this salad. One is its jewel-tone colors of bright green, ruby red, and pumpkin orange. The other is the balanced flavors of sweet-tart persimmons and pomegranates contrasting with the tangy blue cheese and the subtle bitterness of walnuts. A ripe Fuyu persimmon is vivid orange, firm to the touch, and slightly crisp when sliced.
Fast Fact: A persimmon provides 50 percent more fiber than a serving of oatmeal.
Quick Tip: To remove seeds from a pomegranate, cut it in half and place the halves in a bowl of cold water deep enough that the entire fruit is underwater. Run you fingers over the pale membrane to remove seeds; it won’t splatter because the juices stay underwater. Bits of membrane will float to the surface and can easily be discarded. Drain the seeds before using.

This creamy purée shows how using fruit in savory soups adds a nice, mellow flavor. Pears, because they are high in fiber, add body, too. If you buy the squash pre-cut, this soup is a good choice when you are entertaining because it is rich enough to be special while it lets you devote more time to other preparations. Chefs use leeks frizzled in a little oil to garnish dishes and add pungent flavor.
Fast Fact: While higher in fat than milk, cream is far lower in sugar and carbs.
Quick Tip: Large leeks tend to be woody, so buy them an inch or less in diameter.

Aficionados of Portuguese cooking will recognize this chunky soup as a classic with a twist. For the sausage, instead linguiça, found only in Portuguese-American neighborhoods, I use kielbasa because it is widely available and adds a delicious smoky flavor. Spanish chorizo or Italian sausage work well, too. I also make a vegetarian version, using smoked tofu or seared cubed tempeh in place of the meat.
Fast Fact: Yellow-fleshed potatoes contain small amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin, forms of carotene that are good for the eyes.
Quick Tip: For maximum flavor with less fat and no nitrites, look for the cooked turkey kielbasa from Wellshire Farms.

This is a very easy recipe using ginger and turmeric, two of my favorite seasonings.

This side dish makes four servings; it’s perfect to keep in your fridge to add to stir-fries or pasta dishes. Use as many different mushrooms as you can find, especially the healthier varieties like shiitake, enoki and oyster mushrooms. The dried porcini or cepes really add a lot of flavor. You’ll find them in little packages near the produce stands.

This delicious and easy soy-based dressing can stand head to head with everyone’s favorite – ranch dressing. Look for silken tofu in shelf-stable cardboard containers. It has a different texture than regular tofu and is good for dressings and desserts. This dressing is good on a tossed green salad (remember to pick dark green salad greens), but equally at home on a baked potato or as a dip for raw vegetables. Add a bit of fragrant bleu cheese if you like.

If tofu is prepared right, it’s delicious. If not, it can taste like rubber. Tofu is curdled soy milk that’s been pressed in a process similar to making cheese. You’ll find tofu in natural food stores and many supermarkets these days. Several brands are available with varying texture from extra firm to soft (tofu’s firmness depends on the amount of liquid that’s been pressed out of it. In large cities with oriental markets you can often find tofu sold in bulk, usually stored in open barrels. Tofu sold this way has been found to occasionally be infected with E. coli bacteria, so be cautious. You might also try the delicious varieties of baked, pressed tofu you’ll find in refrigerator cases at natural food stores. These are already flavored and ready to eat without additional cooking. The idea behind stir-frying is to produce a mixture in which all the items are crunchy-tender and retain their colors and individual character.

This just sounds so-o-o-o healthy and good.