Add truffle flavor to a dish with some of this brilliant juice, available at specialty food shops. Created by soaking Italian and French truffles in a brine, it’s an easy way to introduce the heady flavor of truffles to a dish.

We use it in sauces, soups and stocks where we don’t want the added fat from our other favorite truffle-enhancement, truffle butter, another delicious and affordable solution. Truffle oil is yet another option (and great to spray on popcorn).

Truffles, glorious truffles. Photo by Kelly
Cline | IST.

When tomatoes are out of season—or you just don’t have any at hand—simply substitute roasted red peppers (pimientos) or marinated sundried tomatoes. Both are available in jars, and can be kept on your shelf ready for sandwiches, salads, plate garnishes, hors d’oeuvres, pastas and any need you have for flavor and color.

Try peppadews too, a cherry pepper-sized African fruit that looks like a small, round red bell pepper and is available in mild and hot styles. They can be stuffed for hors d’oeuvres and even used as cocktail garnishes. But warning to carb counters: Their sweetness comes from added sugar.

Use sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers
and peppadews to add flavor and color to
sandwiches and dishes when tomato season is over. Photo courtesy Peppadew.com.

Yesterday was National Guacamole Day, but it’s a dish that we enjoy almost every week of the year. To make the best, use avocados from Mexico. We hate to say it, because we prefer to support American businesses, but the Mexican Hass avocados are simply better—creamier and more flavorful, the best avocados we’ve ever had. As a result, they make the best, creamiest guacamole. Why?

Avocados are good for you. Yes, they have calories (from heart-healthy unsaturated fats); but they’re also packed full of antioxidants, fiber, folic acid and other B items, potassium and Vitamin E.

A Hass avocado from Mexico. Photo courtesy AvocadosFromMexico.com.

Grow your own with seeds from
EvergreenSeeds.com.

A sweet radish without the peppery bite, its color and mildness make it a lovely surface for hors d’oeuvres and a beautiful garnish (sliced, quartered, or julienned).

One of our favorite salad greens, not served often enough in the U.S., is the classic French frisée (curly endive). A salade frisée (frisée salad) is traditionally served with crumbled Roquefort cheese and lardons, which are crisp, browned chunks of pork belly (you can substitute bacon or pancetta). Toss the salad with a classic vinaigrette. For even more panache, add some fan-sliced red pear and a few toasted walnut halves.

Want more soy in your life? Edamame (the Japanese word for green soybeans), once found only at Japanese restaurants, are now available almost everywhere, in the frozen vegetable case. (Guess what—the restaurants buy them frozen, too.) Steam them and eat them as a snack or an appetizer Japanese-style, squeezing the beans from the pod into your mouth. Season them by tossing with a bit of sea salt. Or, mix the beans into rice, mashed potatoes, soups and salads. They make attractive garnishes on hors d’oeuvres and other dishes. We love that something this tasty and fun is so good for us.

September is National Mushroom Month, which made us wonder: Is there a logical way to choose which types of mushrooms go best in which types of dishes?

We posed this question to the Mushroom Council and they gave us valuable mushroom pairing tips. We’ve included them in a new article along with mushroom buying tips and six delicious mushroom recipes.

One of our favorite recipes for carb counters is Portabella Eggs Benedict, which substitutes a nutritious portabella mushroom cap for the high-carb, nutritionally meager English Muffin (see it in the photo at right).

When should you use a portabella versus a
porcini? Find out in our latest mushroom article.

September is Mushroom Month! In addition to their normal place in recipes, mushrooms can be served almost anywhere—atop pasta, as a side dish (great with meat and poultry), as an hors d’oeuvre on toasted baguette slices (topped with some fresh chives or parsley), on sandwiches, as a side with eggs at breakfast, as a plate garnish with most dishes—even as a snack on a slice of toast with a cup of tea. We sauté a large batch mixed mushrooms and keep them in the refrigerator, microwaving them as needed. Depending on what we find at the store, we’ll slice porcinis, portabellas, shiitakes, criminis or cultivated white mushrooms. Other times we’ll cook up whole chanterelles or trumpets. Whatever captures your fancy, slice and sauté 1 pound of mushrooms in 1/4 cup of butter or olive oil with 2 sliced garlic cloves and 1 tablespoon fresh herbs—sage, rosemary or thyme. Add good red wine if you have some. Cook over medium-high heat until browned, stirring frequently. Remove from the flame and stir in a 1/8 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. The mushrooms will keep for a week or more.

• See an exciting variety of mushrooms in our >Mushroom Glossary.
  

Whether you’re a vegetarian, have vegetarian guests or simply love great veggies, these vegetable fries recipes are a welcome appetizer alternative to raw veggies and dip. Even if you aren’t a fan of fried food, these starters, created by two notable New York City chefs, Julian Medina and Alex Ureña, are succulent with international flavor. Fried food has never seemed so sophisticated! Now, when someone says, “Do you want fries with that?” we say, “Absolutely!”

Recipes:

Chickpea Fries, created by Chef Alex Ureña.