Squash

Summery and light, this vivid salad and its tangy dressing help balance the tuna and its rich glaze. Salting the zucchini slices takes the edge off their rawness while preserving their pleasant snap.

Any simple grilled meat would work well alongside this stunning side dish—the long, thin folds of zucchini have visual élan to spare, perking up every plate they touch.

Purchased pie dough makes an almost-instant crust for the tiny tarts.

Serve this cold or at room temperature—perfect for a picnic or barbecue.

Your market basket loaded with produce, olive oil, and fish, you saunter home to your idyllic farmhouse and marinate the vegetables. The following evening, you invite your friends over. Berets optional.

Pasta made with matzo cake meal is extremely light in texture and is no fuss to prepare when it's rolled and cut by hand into thin strips. The vegetables, in shades of green, provide a range of spring color.

This side dish is like the love child of a salad and a pickle. Make it ahead of time and serve it at room temperature with the Steak and Olives

These "hats" are a classic dish in Ferrara, where you'll find them filled with a range of different things, from meat to vegetables. In this version, the toasted flavor of the butter and the herbal quality of the sage in the sauce really bring out the nuttiness of the parmesan and butternut squash in the filling.

Kugel is most often made with potatoes or noodles. Here, carrots, zucchini, and two kinds of onions add color and flavor to a potato version.

With golden cheese that yields to an abundance of roasted vegetables, this gratin is an ideal side dish, but it really doesn't need anything more than a green salad to make it a satisfying dinner.

Be sure to buy a colorful assortment of baby vegetables. Serve as a side for roasted meat or fish, as an antipasto with salumi and breadsticks, or as an appetizer with crusty bread and goat cheese.

This filling meatless meal satisfies nearly a quarter of your daily fiber needs.

Don't worry if the fat seems a bit high—it's mostly the heart-healthy kind from the fish.

Look for squash that are heavy for their size.

A fiber-filled belly warmer from Brian Scheehser, chef at Trellis in Kirkland, Washington.

An intriguing, rich, and spicy soup with West African roots.

Vegetarians deserve a showstopping centerpiece for their main course, too, and this burnished pumpkin, filled with a fragrant stew, will have even meat eaters saying, "Who needs a turkey?" Root vegetables, mushrooms, and seitan—a firm, meatlike wheat protein that soaks up all the flavors of the sauce—mingle with roasted vegetables inside the pumpkin, whose flesh you scoop out along with servings of the stew. (Don't be intimidated at the thought of assembling such a masterpiece—if you've ever made a jack-o'-lantern, you have the skills to prepare this dish.)

With its notes of cumin, cinnamon, and chocolate playing off the gentle spice, this meatless chili combines the best parts of a mole sauce and a Cincinnati-style chili. Its rich body makes it a seriously satisfying dinner any night of the week.

Here's an idea: Save a few of the toasted pumpkin seeds to use as a garnish. That little bit of extra crunch will complement the sweet, succulent squash beautifully.