My dear friend Jamie asked me to post a few recipes for some "regular old vegetables," the kind she picks up at the grocery store and wants to whip up on a weeknight. There's no shame in throwing carrots, green beans and broccoli in your basket, but try to get them from the farmers market, or at least buy organic. The quality and flavor are just that much better. I'm still exhausted from writing yesterday's post about fats, so I'm not going to drone on too much. Just letting you know that a few of my favorite "common vegetable" recipes follow, including some quickies pulled right from one of Mark Bittman's articles in the Times, where he lists 101 salads, or 101 things to do with chicken. (Don't you adore Mark? Didn't he almost save that On the Road show from being completely mired down in Mario & Gwyneth's repellent self-love?)
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Back in the 80s, I was among the many crazy for The Silver Palate cookbook. That carrot cake! The famed chicken Marbella! I loved how the book was larded with personal stories and little tidbits of miscellany  in the margins (marginalia?). I adore lists. The recipes seemed somehow both cosmopolitan and accessible, perfect for dinner parties in my starter apartment on East Broadway. When I read about author Sheila Lukins' untimely death from brain cancer recently, I was deeply saddened. And I immediately went out and got some eggplant, picked handfuls of fresh basil from the garden and made this dish—one that will remain forever in my repertoire. It's excellent with grilled lamb but since I don't really like lamb, I eat it with grilled fish or tomatoes with feta.
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