This chapter matters because plant-forward food only earns a place at the table if it still feels like dinner. The recipes here are built to stand on their own: real texture, real depth, and enough staying power that nobody reads them as the polite, lighter option next to something else.
Some of what's ahead is fully vegan. Some leans vegetarian. But everything in this chapter is held to the same standard as the rest of the book, it has to satisfy someone who is genuinely hungry, not just someone looking to feel virtuous for an evening.
We lean on spice, char, and layered sauces to do a lot of the work here, the kind of cooking that builds flavor in stages rather than relying on a single ingredient to carry the whole plate. These are meals we make because we want to eat them, not because we're avoiding something else.
If you've ever been served a plant-based main that felt like a consolation prize, this chapter is our answer to that.
