Parsley

While standing in front of a bin of peaches in a local market, I heard a voice behind me. A mother, shopping with her youngster, was looking at the huge display of late-summer produce and in a very matter-of-fact voice offered this wisdom: "When the price is low, the flavor is high." She was teaching her child an important lesson: Buy fruits and vegetables in season, when they cost the least but taste the best. I follow this philosophy myself, especially when entertaining, and did so this past weekend.

"What you're looking for in a pilaf is for the grains to be very separate when they're cooked," says Mary Jo Hogue, test-kitchen manager for the U.S.A. Rice Council, a trade group.Any kind of rice will do, she says, but the best results often come with long-grain rice, which is four to five times as long as it is wide and tends to hold up better for long cooking times. (An exception is the Turkish recipe below, which calls for short-grain rice.)Pilafs are often one-dish meals, containing rice, vegetables and meat or fish, but they can also be meatless, for vegetarians or those abstaining from meat for religious reasons.

This one-pot vegetarian chili starts with canned tomatoes and takes its cue from Italian ingredients. Portobello mushrooms provide the "meat" in this stew, but button mushrooms also will work. If you want real meat in the mix, pan-fry cubes of Italian sausage and add them to the chili. Tips Onions are fairly interchangeable. If you don't have green onions, for instance, substitute an identical amount of whatever type you have on hand. To quickly separate the peel from a garlic clove, trim the ends and place the flat side of a chef's knife on the clove, then give it a quick hit. When chopping ingredients for the chili, chop extra onions, parsley or cheese and refrigerate for your salad.

Other cultures, especially those that rely on grains and cereals, have given Americans many intriguing condiments. Bland by nature, grains and cereals benefit from a little va-va-va-voom. Consider z'ug (sometimes spelled zhoug), a hot Yemeni herb condiment used to dress almost anything. Z'ug is pestolike in its start and its end, but nowhere near pesto in its middle. Pureed cilantro and flat-leaf parsley form its foundation; lots of garlic, chiles and cumin rev it up. A splash of olive oil moistens the mix to smooth it into an aromatic, lively sauce.

FOOD FROM THE garden is in a class by itself. But too often, good, green things are pushed to the side of the plate to serve as understudies to the main course. In "The Savory Way" (Bantam 1990, $22.95), Deborah Madison turns vegetables into long-overdue stars. The author knows her veggies, having created Greens, a San Francisco vegetarian restaurant that was the toast of the '80s and inspired her first cookbook full of show-stopping, restaurant style vegetarian dishes. Now Madison has left Greens and moved on to a simpler lifestyle of writing and cooking in Arizona.

Pears, with their crisp texture and subtle fruitiness, team with walnuts and turkey, dried cranberries and sherry for a fall-themed pasta dish. Sherry and dried cranberries add tartness, but this is the kind of dish you can tailor to your tastes and your pantry. Any white wine or dried berry could be substituted. Tips Apples can replace the pears. No pasta in the cupboard? Rice or couscous will work, too. Menu Turkey and pasta with pears and walnuts Sauteed spinach Cheese and rustic bread Spice cookies Chardonnay Turkey Breast Pasta With Pears and Walnuts Makes 6 servings Preparation time: 20 minutes; cooking time: 20 minutes 1 pound spaghetti 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 pound turkey cutlets, thinly sliced 1 small onion, thinly sliced 3 pears, diced 1/2 cup each: coarsely chopped walnuts, dried sweetened cranberries, sherry 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage or 1 teaspoon dried 1 cup chicken broth 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste freshly ground pepper 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (optional)

If you're like most of us, you could go to your refrigerator right now and they would be in the bin: carrots, celery and parsley. The "forgotten" produce.You almost always have to buy too much for a single recipe, so you store the leftovers. And they seem to keep forever. Now, it's time to think out of the bin.Carrots, with their bright, sweet taste, celery with its salty crunch and pungent parsley are bold enough to star in dishes of their own. You just need a sprinkling of imagination.We asked several cooks and cookbook authors what they do to give these humble vegetables top billing at mealtime.

Last week at a popular Italian restaurant in our small New England town, I ordered as a first course "pasta in brodo," which translates to "pasta in broth." The soup, made with chicken stock, had cheese-filled tortellini floating in it and a melange of vegetables including diced zucchini and carrots. Light yet satisfying, the delectable broth made a perfect opener for my meal. Several days later, I decided to make a spring version of this dish in my own kitchen. This classic Italian soup is based on homemade broth, but since I didn't have several hours to prepare stock, I opted for a shortcut.

Since the Abi-Najm family opened the first Lebanese Taverna 23 years ago, it has developed a loyal following in the Washington area. It has since grown the business into a small chain of restaurants that garner high ratings in Zagat, a veritable bible in the restaurant biz. Now, those of us living beyond the Beltway (the one around D.C., that is) don't have to schlep quite as far to see why the tavernas get such good buzz; the fifth and newest one opened two months ago in Annapolis. The taverna in Annapolis Harbour Center is more casual than the original outposts in Arlington and Washington's Woodley Park.

Julia Rockwell of Pittsfield, Mass., was looking for a recipe for a chicken soup that could be made in a slow cooker. Kathy Krieger of Baltimore sent in a recipe for chicken soup that she has adapted over the years to make in her slow cooker. You'll need to allow two days to make this soup because her recipe involves a two-stage cooking process. The first stage takes eight hours; then the soup needs to cool completely so that the fat can be removed. Then the broth is returned to the slow cooker, and fresh vegetables are added in the second stage.