Parsnip

Not only is our mash low-cal, but it also provides more than a quarter of your daily requirement for cell-building vitamin B6.

Mashed potatoes make a hearty honest dish. It has sometimes been referred to as comfort food because it evokes memories of both big special-occasion dinners and the simple, family dinner intended for no other reason than to share a good meal. This version of mashed potatoes tastes good because it's dense with the mildly sweet flavor of parsnips and just enough butter to please, but without the extra calories you usually find in mashed potatoes.

Borscht is one of those soups that has dozens of variations. This version of the classic Russian beet soup uses lots of vegetables and a touch of bacon for extra flavor. You can leave the bacon out and use vegetable broth if you prefer a vegetarian soup. Grating the beets into the soup releases maximum beet flavor. Though this recipe calls for the borscht to be served hot, it is also delicious when served cold.

Cassoulet is a robust meal, filled with cured and smoked meats and sausages, baked in a stew of beans until a rich crust forms. According to tradition, the cook repeatedly breaks the crust and pushes it down into the stew.

A huge hit for us: spicy, sour, sweet, and herbaceous. This is among the greatest noodle dishes ever.

An irresistible vegetarian main course can take a little extra love and time, but food editor Melissa Roberts would be the first person to tell you it's worth it. Fortunately, all the components of this shepherd's pie—from the heady vegetable stew with its red wine gravy to the crown of fluffy mashed potatoes and celery root—can be made ahead. Protein-rich seitan (pronounced "SAY-tan," it's sometimes labeled "wheat gluten") has long been used as a meat substitute by Asian cooks, who know how to coax the most out of its satisfyingly chewy texture. Seitan doesn't have a strong taste of its own, but it soaks up the flavors of whatever it's cooked with.

This lighter take on the classic recipe will be gobbled up as quickly as the original—and is still best served with applesauce and sour cream.

Your guests will wonder what makes this purée so silky. You can either look away demurely, hoarding your secret, or confess that it’s parsnips. Here, the floral subtlety of these ivory tubers is bolstered by the bite of whole Brussels sprouts leaves.

Made from an amber dessert wine, Moscatel vinegar has apricot overtones and a faint, complex acidity. When food editor Maggie Ruggiero, who developed this menu, discovered it, she called it her “white-balsamic-vinegar fantasy” and was dying to use it in something. Parsnips were in season, and their earthiness paired beautifully with this vinegar. In this easy agrodolce, the parsnips become caramelized and infused with an intriguing sweetness.

A shot of vinegar enlivens the concentrated sweetness of roasted parsnips—a perfect complement to simple roast chicken.

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.)

Since roasting brings out the best in most vegetables, food editor Melissa Roberts decided to throw the potatoes into the oven along with the garlic and parsnips, their companions in this dish. The result is an earthy mash, with chunks of caramelized parsnip and savory-sweet garlic.

This recipe was created by chef Traci Des Jardins of San Francisco's Jardinière. It's part of a special menu she created for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program.

Caramelized by high-heat roasting, all that these parsnips needed was a hint of sage to make fans of us all.

Parsnips, celery root, and sweet potatoes bring depth to this unfussy gratin. Best of all, it requires no "arranging"—you just spread the root vegetables in the baking dish.

Parsnips may not be the flashiest of vegetables, but we love their earthy flavor, especially when they're gussied up with fragrant black-truffle butter.

Traditional Scandinavian fare, this rich stew is comfort food at its best — think chicken potpie without the crust. Boiled potatoes are the perfect starch to balance the sweet carrots and parsnips.

Chef: Wylie Dufresne, 71 Clinton Fresh Food, New York City. Claim to fame: His restaurant won a rave review from The New York Times — now it's a hot spot. How he defines natural: "Clean, simple food tastes best; by happy accident it's also healthiest."

This luxurious soup soothes on a wintry day, warming the palate with rich duck confit, sweet root vegetables, and earthy barley. Pearl barley, by definition, has had some of its bran removed, but we found that different brands varied widely. Higher-fiber varieties will have a slightly longer cooking time.

Mischa Barton and Kate Beckinsale have spent time in the Santa Monica steak house with a funky decor (picture mirrored walls and antler chandeliers). Atkins devotees can be spotted chowing down on red meat, while vegetarians can sample plenty of fish recipes like this tuna dish, which is high in omega-3 fatty acids (they may help reduce your risk for heart disease).