Kimchi Soup with Tofu MAKES: 4 servings TIME: 25 minutes If you’re the type of person who gets wildly overambitious at Asian markets, loading up your cart with more kimchi, Korean chile paste, and miso than the average Korean family goes through in a month, this...
Jook MAKES: 4 servings TIME: about 21/2 hours Jook—also called congee or rice gruel—is a Chinese “porridge” (it’s thinner than most), a breakfast item that’s also terrific served as a soup in the afternoon or evening. It is truly astonishing how much...
Raw Beet Salad MAKES: 4 servings TIME: 20 minutes Beets, like carrots, can be eaten raw. And they’re delicious that way, crunchy and sweet. So sweet, in fact, that they need a strongly acidic dressing like this one for balance. 1 to 11/2 pounds beets, preferably...
Ratatouille Salad MAKES: 4 servings TIME: 30 minutes Eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onions, and tomatoes are a familiar Mediterranean combination, especially in summer. Too often, however, they’re overcooked and mushy. Enter the ratatouille salad, where the vegetables...
Green Tea Broth with Udon Noodles MAKES: 4 first-course or 2 lunch servings TIME: 15 minutes In Japan, one often eats udon noodles with the liquid they were cooked in to enjoy both the flavor and the nutrition left behind by the noodles. Sometimes the starting point...
Glazed Carrot Soup MAKES: 4 servings TIME: 45 minutes You can glaze any vegetable that’s starchy and sweet enough to convert a little cooking liquid into a syrupy coating, and nothing works better than carrots. Other root vegetables, like turnips, parsnips,...
Mushroom Salad, Italian-American Style MAKES: 4 servings TIME: About 1 hour A vinegary, almost pickled mushroom dish that can be used as a garnish or condiment as well as a salad. It’s also good tossed with chopped Belgian endive (use 2 heads for this amount of...
Lettuce and Chive Salad, Korean Style MAKES: 4 servings TIME: 15 minutes In Korea, the chives would be served alone, as a side dish. And you can certainly do that. But I love tossing them and their distinctive dressing on top of a mound of greens. It’s a great salad...
Gazpacho MAKES: 4 servings TIME: About 20 minutes No one can definitively say what gazpacho is—you see it with grapes, with almonds, even with melon. This basic recipe is what you probably expect when you hear the word gazpacho, but, as the variations show, you can...
Garlic Fideo Soup MAKES: 4 servings TIME: 30 minutes Browned noodles are a real treat; one classic example is Garlicky Vermicelli or Fideo, the paellalike dish where broken strands of thin noodles are panfried before liquid and the other ingredients are added. Here I...
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Hard-Cooked Eggs MAKES: 4 servings TIME: 20 minutes This straightforward chopped salad with tomato wedges is wonderfully complex, especially if you use a mixture of heirloom tomatoes at the peak of summer. Hard-cooked eggs add a nice chew...
Grilled Shiitake or Portobello Salad with Soy Vinaigrette MAKES: 4 servings TIME: 40 minutes, including heating the grill This salad is as simple as can be. You might double the number of mushrooms (a mix is nice) and serve it as a main course. 8 large or 16 small...