Saute

Okay, this salad is really dinner-for-one-and-lunch-the-next-day. I got the recipe from my host sister in Germany, who says that the longer the salad is in the fridge, the better it tastes. I told her that I don’t think we can tell that to college students in the U.S., because some of them will end up with science experiments! Still, you could even make a double or triple batch and keep it in the fridge for a quick lunch or to bring along to a barbecue.

I wasn’t enthused about this recipe idea and was not particularly happy when I had to test it. In my opinion, the world didn’t need another mushroom burger. But I went to work and was quickly finished. “At least it didn’t take very long,” I mumbled. I bit into it, expecting the standard, run-of-the-mill mushroom burger you get in every restaurant nowadays, but then I had to pause mid-chew. This was no normal mushroom burger. This—this was a luau in my mouth! Okay, maybe that’s a tiny overstatement, but this is so easy and good, there’s no reason not to make it.

This recipe is one of my personal favorites. Using milk instead of cream and cutting down on the Parmesan cheese makes a waistline-friendly alternative to alfredo sauce. I love lemon in just about anything, and together with the asparagus it makes for a light and refreshing pasta dish. The best part is how easy it is. You can do all of the other preparation in the time it takes to cook the pasta.

I never realized that there were so many ways to make curry until a few of my friends got into a discussion of the virtues of the different types. There’s red, made with red chiles; green, made with green chiles; and yellow, made with turmeric. Countries all across Asia, from India to Malaysia to Thailand (and Mongolia!), have dishes called curries—all spicy. Then there’s the wet/dry divide, which has to do with how much sauce the dish has. In case you’re interested, this is a dry, yellow, Indian-style curry.

Here’s another easy and fast stir-fry dish that incorporates tempeh, which is a great meat substitute. Served over rice, this is a perfect dish to eat on a day you work out or are extra busy and need some long-lasting energy—it’s got good lean protein.

I love teriyaki sauce. For me, anything can be made better with teriyaki sauce, which is why I was totally in favor of the tofu in this recipe, much to my sister’s surprise. The tofu soaks up a light teriyaki flavor, but not so much that it becomes overly teriyaki-y. I made that up, but it should be a word.

These are light and healthy, and so packed with flavor that everyone will love them. The sauce has a classic combo of Southeast Asian flavors that go so well together—salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. Just be careful with the chili paste. It’s hot . . . really hot.

This pasta dish is pretty spectacular. It’s just a few ingredients that combine to make something fabulous—and that, in a nutshell, is the secret of Italian cooking. The roasted tomatoes and roasted garlic are rich and delicious, the beans add protein and texture, and the basil brings a fresh flavor.

Crêpes are incredibly delicious and probably one of the most versatile foods you can make. They feel fancy and sound impressive, but are fairly cheap to make. When you make these, do not, I repeat do not use the so-called Parmesan that comes in a green shaker can. Use the real stuff; you’ll need about 3 ounces to make 1 cup.

This recipe is a spin on something I tasted in France, and I don’t mind saying that we’ve done a way better job than they did. Cooking the polenta from scratch gives the best results, but you could also buy a roll of cooked polenta (find it near the pasta in the supermarket). Trim a little off the ends of the roll and slice it into eight slices. Brown two slices for each serving.

Fried rice is super easy, yummy, and, shockingly, not necessarily too bad for you. Although our version has the word fried in the name, we use cooking spray instead of oil to reduce the calories, and you can also add a little fiber by using brown rice instead of white. See? Actually good for you! Rice is really cheap, and the vegetables in this recipe aren’t too expensive either, so this a staple of my diet.

Of all the dishes in this book, this was probably the favorite when we were testing recipes. Everyone we tried it on loved it. Although it takes a little time to caramelize the onions, it’s easy (they pretty much just sit in the pan and cook themselves), and you will not believe how sweet and delicious they end up.

Taco seasoning can cover all manner of sins, but when I first saw textured vegetable protein, I was a bit apprehensive: could it possibly taste any better than driveway gravel? As it turns out, it’s pretty amazing stuff. In water, it expands to more than twice its original volume, and it picks up the flavors of whatever you combine it with. It has the texture of ground beef, but it’s way cheaper. This all makes it perfect for these classic tacos in a crispy shell, which are usually filled with seasoned ground beef. You can buy it at your local produce market or natural foods store in the bulk food section.

This is called a casserole because when my grandmother makes it she sautés the vegetables, then puts them in a casserole dish and bakes them with the cheese on top. You can do that if you want, but I say why bother? It’s faster and easier to cook it all in one pan, and it tastes exactly the same. As for the breadcrumbs, any kind works, so we usually go with plain.

This dish proves how a few simple ingredients can turn into a wonderful meal. You can add more vegetables if you want, but I say why mess with success? This dish has a hint of spice. If you like things spicier, you can be more generous with the crushed red pepper.

Stir-frying is one of the quickest, easiest, and healthiest ways to cook, and this recipe is a great introduction. You don’t need a wok or any other special equipment, just a regular old frying pan and a spatula or wooden spoon. Once you get this recipe down, you can add your own touches. More or less spice, different vegetables, more garlic or ginger, different sauces—the possibilities are endless! One word of caution with this and other stir-fries: if you add wet vegetables to hot oil, the oil will sputter and spit, so drain or pat excess water off your ingredients.

We have two recipes for tacos in this book, which may seem repetitive, but the only similarity is the tortillas and cheese. This version has the great combo of black beans and corn, with a little bit of zip from the sauce.

This is a fine example of a Vietnamese hybrid dish. In many Viet cookbooks, the prescribed method for cooking potatoes is the double-fry approach (a Belgian technique introduced by the French), which yields nongreasy potatoes that are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Atop the perfectly fried potatoes is a mound of stir-fried beef, the juices of which penetrate the potatoes to give them great savoriness. Enjoy this East-meets-West dish as is, with a boiled green vegetable or green salad to round out the meal. Or, treat it like a stir-fry and eat it with rice (as I like to) as part of a traditional Viet meal.

Chinese celery has a wonderfully intense and rather wild flavor when eaten raw, which explains why it is always cooked before serving, as in this simple stir-fry. It looks like pencil-thin stems of Western celery with roots attached, and in a bunch, it could be mistaken for Italian parsley because the leaves are similar. At a Chinese or Viet market, choose Chinese celery that looks crisp and fresh (check the roots) and use it within a couple of days of purchase.

In classic stir-fries such as this one, beef, a special-occasion meat in Vietnam, is paired with a vegetable that is equally prized and costly. Here, it is cauliflower, traditionally considered a luxury vegetable in Vietnam because it used to be grown only in the cool areas around Dalat. To allow these precious ingredients to shine, they are treated simply with little sauce and only a few other ingredients. Taking a cue from Chinese cooks, I use flank steak for stir-frying. Cut across the grain into small pieces, it cooks up to an inimitable tenderness. To complement the beef, I select cauliflower that tastes sweet, looks dense, and feels heavy for its size.