Savoy Cabbage

This light soup, served with Scallion Pancakes (page 157), is a great introduction to Asian-style vegetable stir-fries.

My mom used to make stuffed peppers, but I don’t like peppers. What I liked was the stuffing. So I’ve taken my mom’s recipe, tweaked it, and stuffed it in cabbage instead. I’ve also added chicken livers. The livers add an earthy richness that makes this dish super-special. If you don’t like chicken livers—or think you don’t—this is one time where you should get beyond the ick factor, accept that they’re worth adding, and move on . . . because this dish rocks.

This dinner is full of antioxidants, low in fat, high in fiber, and huge on flavor. Can you get anything better for you than that? Plus, you won’t find this one on any take-out menu.

This is not your average steak and baked dinner; it’s about meat and potatoes in a whole new way. Try the same recipe with beef cut for London Broil or skirt steaks. All of these cuts are affordable, but with this exotic recipe they become way above average.

This is sometimes made with lettuce leaves.

Napa cabbage is a leafier relative of bok choy. This is compatible with Asian rice, noodle, and tofu dishes.

Salads are quick and painless to throw together on a work night, and you won’t feel like you’ll have to do double time at the gym the next day. If you’re on your own, this is also a speedy and healthy dinner for one: Just use one tuna steak and a few less vegetables. The colors of this sophisticated and simple salad really pop. I like hothouse cucumbers because they have minimal seeds and tender skin. The mustard packets that you get from Chinese takeout are really put to good use in this Asian vinaigrette.

The leftover Savoy cabbage from our <epi:recipelink id="351167"">Winter Minestrone</epi:recipelink> makes a quick and easy side dish when thinly sliced and sautéed with some scallions and garlic. It tastes great with pork chops, chicken, or fish.

Borscht is one of those soups that has dozens of variations. This version of the classic Russian beet soup uses lots of vegetables and a touch of bacon for extra flavor. You can leave the bacon out and use vegetable broth if you prefer a vegetarian soup. Grating the beets into the soup releases maximum beet flavor. Though this recipe calls for the borscht to be served hot, it is also delicious when served cold.

Feathery carrot tops, the often discarded exclamation point to this popular vegetable, have a sprightly bitterness—almost a cross between radicchio and parsley—that makes them an intriguing accent to a crisp, cumin- scented slaw. Although it's wonderful made with regular orange carrots, you could also showcase the rainbow of offerings (in shades of scarlet, burgundy, and yellow) that beckon at farmers markets.

This stir-fry is staggeringly simple. A drizzle of sesame oil gives a nutty-toasty boost to thinly sliced bok choy and cabbage.

A Provençal barigoule is almost always applied to artichokes, but why limit yourself? Nutty-sweet Brussels sprouts take beautifully to the wine-lemon broth.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen. This recipe for quickly cooked cabbage has converted many an ardent cabbage hater!

Patience is the key to this soul-satisfying soup chock-full of winter greens. Its depth of flavor comes from cooking the soffritto—a mixture of pancetta, onion, celery, carrots, and the ribs from the chard—for a good 45 minutes and from browning the tomato paste. The result is so savory that there's no need for broth; water, canned tomatoes, and a parmesan rind work beautifully. And because this soup must cook slowly, don't worry about prepping all your vegetables before you begin—you can simply chop as you go.

Make this filling ahead of time; it freezes well and you'll have enough to create four batches of Alan Tardi's delicate <epi:recipe link="" id="235965">agnolotti</epi:recipe>.

This dish — the result of a conversation between two food editors who had just returned from opposite parts of the country — almost made itself. Paul Grimes came back from Charleston talking about the creamy stone-ground grits, shrimp, and collard greens of chef Kevin Johnson at Anson, and Kemp Minifie returned from Seattle to tell us about the scallops over braised cabbage with foie gras vinaigrette that Johnathan Sundstrom serves at Lark. We loved the idea of both dishes so much, we met somewhere in between, with this simpler recipe.

Bubble and Squeak This British dish is said to have been named after the sounds that the potato and cabbage mixture makes as it fries.