Vegetarian

Chefs call it a half-sheet and think it’s used for baking.

That’s because chefs don’t think the same way as home cooks. They’re not as resourceful.

What they call a half-sheet, we call a rimmed baking sheet. What they think is best used for, say, cookies, we picture using to cook a whole meal. It’s simple, it’s convenient, and the best part is that you only have one pan to wash.

Sheet pan meals are up and coming; they’re the new big thing. For those in the know, they’re already a trend. Entire cookbooks are devoted to the trend, along with the inevitable blogs.

Years ago, I was attempting to reverse my daughter Valentine's disdain for cauliflower. She was always my veggie-loving kiddo, so I was stumped by her dislike of one my favorites. Who doesn't love roasted cauliflower florets, with those crispy caramelized golden edges?

Rich bean soups are classic winter comfort food. They are filling, healthy, and inexpensive, making them a worthy addition to the menu rotation. The downside to dried bean cookery is the time it takes to soak and then cook beans. Canned beans are a reasonable substitute, although they cost more than three times the price of their dried, bagged counterparts.

For this holiday-worthy recipe, roasting the butternut with several bay leaves slipped between the slices results in a subtle aromatic backdrop for the chile glaze.

I’m all about snacks. Whether it’s something to crunch on during a movie, or giving dinner guests something to munch on while dinner’s in the oven, any new additions to my snack game are welcome.

If I can make those snacks healthy, that's even better. If I can somehow give chickpeas the addictive crunch and cheesy taste of a bag of Cheetos? Holy moly — hold me back from going into full-on snack-attack mode.

Most recipes for quinoa pilaf turn out woefully overcooked because they call for nearly twice as much liquid as they should. We cut the water back to ensure tender grains with a satisfying bite. We toast the quinoa in a dry skillet to develop its natural nutty flavor and finish our pilaf with a judicious amount of boldly flavored ingredients.

We set out to create a simple and versatile carrot side that would work with a wide range of dishes. Roasting carrots draws out their natural sugars and intensifies their flavor­—but the high heat can cause them to become dry, shriveled, and jerky-like. Using a spiralizer to cut the carrots into uniform 1/8-inch noodles ensured that the carrots cooked evenly, and cooking them covered for half the roasting time steamed them slightly and prevented them from drying out.

In this sautéed butternut squash recipe, vinegary, caramelized onions and black olives add sweet, salty and tangy flavors. Other hard winter squashes, such as hubbard or red kuri, work nicely in this dish as well.

This summery pasta is just as much about the vegetables as it is about the pasta itself. The star of the dish is the roasted eggplant, which caramelizes and softens in the oven. Those tender browned cubes then get tossed with cooked pasta and a quickly made sauce of fresh grated tomatoes, capers and chile flakes. Because the tomatoes need to be ripe and soft enough to fall into a purée when you rub the cut sides over the holes of a grater, heirloom tomatoes (which haven’t been bred for sturdiness during shipping) are a good choice here. But any juicy, flavorful, fleshy tomatoes will work.

When preparing tofu for frying, we've always blotted it dry and tossed it in cornstarch, which absorbs exude moisture and ensures a crispy exterior and better browning. Recently we came across anoter method. Soaking the tofu in a hot-water brine and then letting it drain for 15 minutes before frying. In the end, we got the best results by marrying old and new. We found that using a brine that was four times stronger than what we'd seen published delivered the best seasoning and crust, and tossing the hot-brinned tofu in cornstarch after the draing period improved the crust even more.