Beet

I made a beet ravioli dish for the restaurant menu when we first opened, and it remained popular for quite some time. Our regulars weren't at all happy when we finally took it off the menu. On special occasions, such as Valentine's Day, we've brought back variations on that beet ravioli, sometimes using cookie cutters for hearts or other sweet shapes. If you can find them, candy-striped beets are beautiful and unique, or try using golden beets, or even a combination of all three.

*Soy-free All I can say is TRUST ME. We use vegetables in other desserts (think carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie), so why not beets? No one would ever guess that the incredible moisture and beautiful color of this cake comes from an earthy root vegetable!

Beets are in season in July, but if you don't want to turn on your oven to roast them, try a stovetop braise with butter. It's faster and takes them to a wonderfully tender place. A flurry of fresh mint adds panache.

As this recipe proves, barbecue isn't just about the meat. Veggies taste even better when they're grilled. Add some crumbled Maytag blue cheese and a bright dressing for a meal that even a carnivore could love.

You can use red beets if golden beets are unavailable, but your pasta will turn pink.

Trim the tops and tails of the beets to 1 inch.

Smoked sable is as moist as smoked salmon, but with a voluptuous silkiness all its own. To balance its sea-saltiness, top it with earthy roasted beets and fresh watercress. This festive salad makes a wonderfully light start to a lavish Thanksgiving feast.

Though poaching pears in wine often results in a subtle, sophisticated dessert, it rarely looks as lovely as it tastes. Here, Grimes took inspiration from the saturated-red glassware that's ubiquitous in Parisian flea markets and from a dessert at Le Chateaubriand, which uses beet to give the pears a lush garnet hue. As far as its flavor goes, the beet doesn't lend anything more than a nice balance to the overall dish, but you'll probably want to poach pears this way from now on.

For the best flavor, choose small- to medium-sized beets that are firm. Just before cooking, wash beets gently so as not to pierce the skin, which would result in the loss of color and nutrients. Peel the beets after they are cooked and cooled. The skin comes off very easily. Nopales, or fresh cactus, is the fleshy, paddle-shaped stem of the prickly pear cactus. All varieties of prickly pear are edible, but it is best to look for a medium-sized variety that is relatively spineless (this is probably what you would get in the United States anyway). What we see growing in the southwestern part of the United States are generally thick-skinned, low-growing varieties that are not particularly tasty. Nopales are very common in Mexico and are beginning to have more of a presence in the States, as they are very healthy.

For a substantial vegetarian spin on köfte(a kind of Middle Eastern meatball), we beefed up grated zucchini with fresh herbs and mashed chickpeas. The accompanying pilaf, which uses both beets and their greens, is brilliantly colored and gets a joyous crunch from slivered almonds.

The faint sweetness and low acidity of balsamic vinegar is a perfect foil for the earthy taste of beets. For the recipe, there's no need to invest in an expensive real balsamic vinegar (labeled "tradizionale"); a decent mass-produced commercial brand works just fine. Baking, rather than boiling, the beets brings out their robust flavor. Vividly colored beets "bleed," so to keep the juices in while they cook, leave on the skins, the "tails" or rootlike wisps on the bottom, and at least an inch of the green stems. After they're cooked, peel the beets over a bowl or a thick layer of paper towels, since beet juice stains are nearly impossible to remove from wood or plastic surfaces. Karen loves beets and is happy to make a meal of this dish, with the main course there "just as an excuse." Two of the good "excuses" to serve alongside are David's Famous Fried Chicken or Herbed Pinwheel Pork Loin.

The whole beet—greens and all—is used in this clever, elegant main. Gremolata—a mixture of chopped herbs, garlic, and citrus peel—is the classic topping for osso buco. This garlic-free variation gives bright, fresh flavor to the halibut.

Here's a great new way to roast beets: in a salt crust. The horseradish, thyme, and orange in the crust infuse the beets with bright flavor as they're cooking. Leftover beets make a great addition to salads. Lightly coat torn butter lettuce with a Sherry wine vinaigrette, top with the sliced beets and some sliced red onion, and drizzle with a bit of the horseradish crème fraîche.

If you read Edna Lewis's cookbooks, you will come to understand that southerners do not boil their vegetables to death. They cook them until they are perfectly, magnificently tender—and there's a big difference. Try this versatile side and see: It's absurdly easy and full of deep, sweet flavor.

Golden beets have orangey skin and a more delicate sweetness than red beets.

Few Asian meals are complete without pickles, which function variously as appetizers, condiments, salads, palate cleansers, and relishes. Here, Chang breaks down the process so you do the work once but get four very different quick pickles out of it.