Baked Chestnut Risotto with Mushrooms
Here’s a decadent, comforting vegetarian or vegan centerpiece dish for holiday festivities—sweet chestnuts, earthy mushrooms, and risotto’s creamy comfort.
Mashed Cauli-Taters
Here’s a simple side dish for holiday plates: a full-flavored spin on mashed potatoes that welcomes all the various holiday pairings, but is delicious enough to enjoy entirely on its own.
Cheesy Cabbage and White Bean Soup
A Start Simple standout, this soup comes together in no time, and hits all the right spots to classify as classic comfort food.
Mixed Mushroom Pâté (Vegan)
This is a decadently rich mushroom pâté that I always believed required heavy cream—but it turns out a vegan version is just as good.
Big Beans with Charred Zucchini & Tomato
For the big-bean lovers—this salad combines them with late-summer gems and gets smoky notes from charred zucchini.
Corn Tofu
A fun and easy idea for using sweet summer corn to make a soft and silky tofu, inspired by Naoko Takei Moore of TORIO.
Spicy Celery Margarita
A quencher of a cocktail, which uses a few tricks I learned recently from my cocktail-expert friend Emmanuel Rosario, as well as John deBary’s wonderful new book Drink What You Want.
Scrap Soup with Beans over Polenta
This meal-in-a-bowl combines beans and a few choice vegetable scraps to create something hearty, nourishing, and incredibly delicious—served over a pillow of soft polenta.
Polenta Skillet Bread
This started as way to use up leftover cooked polenta, and ended up as my favorite recipe for corn bread, if you can call it that. It’s lightly sweet, and has a decadently moist crumb.
Creamy Broccoli Sauce
An easy, creamy sauce for pasta, grain bowls, or dipping, that’s made primarily from vegetables (broccoli!). Here I offer two options, one enriched with a bit of cream cheese and parmesan, and another equally rich vegan version.
Tomato Tofu
A comforting, pantry-friendly, and quick tofu dish features tomatoes fortified by soy sauce. You can use canned or fresh tomatoes; both are good and special in their own ways.
A Cabbage Salad with Riffs
A recent cabbage salad, explained, with two variations based on what was happening in my pantry the two times I made it.
Carrot & White Bean Veggie Burgers
Another peek from Start Simple—and recipe video, too!—this new veggie burger recipe might become your new favorite: it’s made from pantry staples you likely have on hand, and comes together in one skillet!
Peanut Butter & Greens Sandwich
A peek from Start Simple—and recipe video, too!—this super-easy recipe is based on one of the “building block” recipes in the book, for Marinated Greens.
Creamed Hazelnut and Mushroom Soup
Few things hit the spot like a creamy bowl of mushroom soup in January—this vegan soup take is just as comforting, achieving its richness and body by using toasted hazelnuts, which are blended into the soup.
A Vegetable Broth for Sipping
As soon as it got cold this year, I started craving broth—something rich and warming, but also nutritious and fortifying. Here’s my working recipe.
A Squash Galette for Thanksgiving
A galette is my go-to when it comes to holiday mains—and this one is composed from a few Start Simple essentials, demonstrating how versatile this particular vegetable vessel can be.