Lunch

We use Edmond Fallot brand Tarragon Dijon for these (and many other sandwiches), but if you can find it, blend some chopped fresh tarragon into your favorite Dijon mustard.

This rave-worthy soup is all about layering powerful flavor-enhancers that you probably already have on hand—tomato paste, herbs, Parm, and, of course, kosher salt.

Gigante beans are our favorites, but almost any bean will be delicious this way. 

Using these exact vegetables is not the point; choose whatever’s in season and can stand up to being charred. The genius coffee dressing brings it all together.

Simmering vegetables in a covered pot over low heat so that they steam in their own liquid—a French technique called à l'étouffée—is the ticket to achieving a soup with pronounced depth. We love this method with cauliflower, but also try it with celeriac or rutabagas.

Still searching for the tricks needed to get your grain bowl to taste as great as the one at your favorite little luncheonette? Search no more.

The unsung hero of this dish? The nutty-sweet garlic.

The pickled hard-boiled eggs are a great snack on their own—they’re sold individually at Shed in Healdsburg, California.

This slight riff on traditional miso soup is your shortcut to a flavorful, bone-warming snack when you need it most. Just pack a thermos with veggies, tofu, and miso in the morning, and when hunger comes knocking, all you need is a cupful of hot water and a couple of minutes. (Using homemade dashi instead of water, or adding instant dashi powder, brings it to the next level.)

We’ve always loved the slightly sweet and nutty crunch of water chestnuts, which are actually the bulblike growth of a marsh-grown, grasslike plant. We use it unapologetically in spur-of-the-moment stir-fries. Learn how to make this recipe and more in our online cooking class with Sur la Table.

Name a more iconic trio than beets, quinoa, and goat cheese!

This salad was inspired by the classic French bistro salad, in which sturdy winter greens are laced with crisp lardons of bacon and a silky poached egg. We’ll never begrudge you a bit of bacon, but here vegetables are roasted to give the salad a leaner form of texture, flavor, and color.

If you don’t have time to make a batch of flageolets from scratch, choose the best canned cannellini beans you can find. We're a big fan of Bioitalia beans.

Congee, a savory rice porridge, works for any meal. For a vegetarian version of this recipe, skip the chicken and use vegetable broth instead.

Not into kale? Use chard or another hearty green instead.

This avocado toast recipe is endlessly customizable—thus why we don't include specific amounts.