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Mediterranean Shepherd’s Pie

This rustic dish makes a wonderful cold-weather meal when paired with a green salad. Instead of the usual white top made of potatoes, this shepherd’s pie gets a toasted orange hue from winter squash, a common ingredient in Greek and Italian cuisine. You can substitute pumpkin, red kuri squash, or kabocha squash for the butternut. Gremolata, a fresh Italian condiment of parsley, lemon zest, and garlic, adds a bright citrus note.

Serves 6 to 8

5 cups peeled and diced butternut squash (roughly a ½-pound squash)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

2 cups fresh leafy greens, stemmed and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced, plus 1 clove peeled and smashed

2 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 cup walnuts, pulsed in a food processor until coarsely ground

5 anchovy fillets, minced

1½ cups vegetable or chicken stock

½ cup bread crumbs

1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Zest of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Toss the squash with salt and pepper and 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Arrange it in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast until the squash is very soft, about 50 minutes. Stir occasionally. Let the squash cool and purée it in a food processor until smooth. Season with salt and set aside.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onion and sauté until soft. Add the greens and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic, chickpeas, walnuts, and anchovies. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

Transfer the chickpea mixture to a 10-inch round glass baking dish, and spread the squash purée evenly over the top. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the squash in a thin layer, then drizzle with the 1 remaining tablespoon olive oil. Bake until the bread crumbs are lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes.

To make the gremolata, combine the parsley, zest, and smashed garlic clove in a food processor, and grind to a coarse meal. Set aside in a small dish. Serve the pie in slices with the gremolata scattered on top.

Lemony Gold Beet Barley Risotto

Barley replaces the traditional Arborio rice here for a textured, nutty-tasting whole-grain risotto. Soaking the barley overnight reduces its cooking time. Gold beets have a sweet, mellow flavor. When roasted with the skin intact, their beautiful color is preserved. Wait to salt the risotto until you’ve added the ricotta salata; as the name implies, it is quite salty. This aged ricotta does not melt, but instead retains a pleasant firm chewiness.

Serves 6

2 gold beets

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

6 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 yellow onion, finely diced

1 cup pearled barley, soaked in water overnight in the refrigerator

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup white wine

1¼ cups crumbled ricotta salata

2 recipes Sautéed Leafy Greens

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Wash and trim the beets, leaving a little of the stems intact so that you do not cut into the beets themselves. Wash the beet leaves and add them to the leafy greens for sautéing. Put the beets in a casserole dish with 3 tablespoons water. Cover tightly and roast until the beets are very tender, about 45 minutes. When cool, pull off and discard the skins and coarsely chop the beets. Put the beets in a bowl and mash them coarsely. Add the zest, lemon juice, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, and a dash of salt. Mix well and set aside.

Pour the stock into a pot and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to a simmer.

Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil, then the onion, and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove the barley from the soaking water, then add the barley and garlic to the soup pot and sauté for 1 minute. Stir in the