Eggplant

Syracuse, the beautiful port city on the Ionian Sea, has a cuisine that is marked by highly aromatic combinations of vegetables and seafood. This pasta recipe is a distinctive example.

Start with tomato soup garnished with chopped fresh basil. Have deli potato salad with the main course, and for dessert, pears with Gorgonzola and biscotti.

A satisfying meatless main course.

Purchased Boboli crusts make these pizzas a snap to prepare. Offer prosciutto and melon as another appetizer.

Spoon this over rice noodles or linguine, and have a crisp coleslaw of bean sprouts, shredded cabbage and slivered red bell pepper alongside. To finish, drizzle white rum over fresh pineapple and banana chunks. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This meatless salad combines couscous with roasted eggplant, zucchini, red bell pepper and leeks. Cooked sausage may be added to make it heartier. Serve with rolls or baguette slices and iced tea or white wine.

Top these tostadas with guacamole.

Chef Stratta prepares this satisfying sandwich for The Terrace Dining Room, Phoenix, Arizona.

Although we give directions on how to stack the vegetables in these napoleons, feel free to arrange the vegetables and cheeses any way you wish.

Thick slices of eggplant are topped with a salad of roasted red bell peppers, feta cheese, olives and garbanzo beans; then the salad is drizzled with a tangy balsamic dressing. It's nice with a Pinot Blanc or a Chardonnay. Pears poached in red wine and served with chocolate sauce and a glass of Sauternes make a lovely dessert.

Baba Ghanouj Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 5 1/2 hr

This upscale Indian restaurant is perched above the shops of Harvard Square. The restaurant's location draws an international crowd of students, professors, and tourists. Dark wood tables and chairs and classical Indian music give it a refined quality, but authenticity is the restaurant's main pursuit — the kitchen grinds its own spices and makes everything from scratch, down to the yogurt and cheese. This traditional Indian dish is called baingan bharta. Serve it with naan or rice.

Round out this meatless — but hearty — main course with a big spoonful of deli pasta salad on a bed of arugula, and end with purchased tiramisù topped with berries.