We love the way French cooking can make innocent vegetables more sinful. Dark, leafy greens are mixed with ricotta, Gruyere and parmesan, and baked on a puff pastry to yield a lunch or light dinner that is decadent yet, as author Kerry Saretsky puts it, "slightly virtuous."

I occasionally get the idea that vegetables have to be saintly, angelic, good little greens, when in reality the French have it right. Vegetables are virtuous by default; a little yin-and-yang counter-indulgence wouldn't be remiss. There's nothing like French peas with ham and cream, or potatoes Dauphinoise, or carrots glazed in butter, or endives wrapped in ham and smothered with béchamel. How can it be wrong when it tastes so right?

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Photo by Kerry Saretsky