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Vegetarian cooking is at its best when it is at its simplest.

Leave complex wonder recipes to overpriced eateries. At home, the easiest and surest way to impress is to use simple techniques to gently coax vibrant flavors out of just a handful of fresh ingredients.

Mediterranean cuisines perfected this art ages ago. Where else can one find such blissfully simple dishes as creamy polenta dressed with a touch of marinara? Or fresh noodles tossed with olive oil and garlic?

These dishes aren't high art, but they are food at its most rustic and sensual. This is where home cooks really can shine.

Rather than laboring over complicated recipes, treat diners to a hearty but simple Mediterranean meal of tomato crostini, stuffed grape leaves and pasta and bean soup, or what the Italians call pasta e fagioli zuppa.

Plan to make the grape leaves first, and the other two items as mealtime nears, then serve everything at once.

For the soup: Fill a medium stockpot halfway with vegetable broth, then add a can of crushed tomatoes, a can of navy or kidney beans, a diced onion, a bit of crushed garlic and two cups of small dry pasta shells.

Season to taste with salt and black pepper, add a few tablespoons of olive oil and bring to a boil. Lower the flame and simmer, covered, until the pasta is tender.

Serve hot on a chilly night, or slightly cooled on a warm spring evening.

Accompany it with marinated tomato crostini. Dice several tomatoes and sprinkle with salt, black pepper and red wine or cider vinegar.

Toss to combine, then transfer to a mesh strainer to drain.

Let sit over the sink for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice a baguette into half-inch slices, drizzle with olive oil and toast in the oven until just crispy.

Top each baguette slice with about two teaspoons of the prepared tomato.

Drizzle with additional olive oil just before serving.

The Mediterranean stuffed grape leaves, made with a recipe from Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley's "The Healthy Kitchen" (Random House, $24.95), are bite-sized morsels of grains and greens that get a sweet and tangy flavor from a combination of raisins, mint and vinegar.

The stuffed leaves can be tricky to wrap at first, so it's a good idea to buy extra leaves for practice.

Grape leaves can be found in jars in the international sections of most grocers.

Because they often are packed tightly together in brine, it's best to gently remove them as a clump and rinse them in a bowl of cool water to separate.

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