Fruit

Secret ingredient: pickle juice. Its salty edge rounds out the Sherry

My favorite apple pie recipe comes from a friend who shares my name, and who was kind enough to share with me a recipe for an apple pie that's practically a work of art. More than a thousand words long, it features little anecdotes here and there, making the recipe valuable for the writing alone, never mind the pie that comes off its pages. We wanted to re-create the flavor of apple pie in ice cream, but pie crust didn't quite work out when tucked into custard—it got too soggy for it to be any good. Instead, we decided to keep the filling and use bits of cooked crumble topping as cookielike bites mixed in with bits of apple. Calvados is a nice way to bump up the apple flavor, but if you don't have that on hand, rum or brandy should do in pinch.

Yes, it's a long recipe with several parts, but each step is easy enough, and it can all be made ahead.

The joy of this simple dessert is that it is even better at room temperature, so you can make it in advance with ease. Be sure to pull it from the oven when the egg mixture is just set, so that the luscious cooked plum texture can meld perfectly with the batter. Think of it as a thick fruit pancake cooked effortlessly in the oven while you do other things.

Dress up any dip, sandwich, or dressing with this flavorful and healthy mayo that also offers the nutrient value of raw kale and fresh garlic. This creamy condiment will soon take the place of butter on your breakfast toast. Go ahead, we won't watch. Spread em'.

Puréed kale leaves give this lighter guacamole an extra dose of fiber and Vitamin A.

Australian potato salad. We didn't know it existed, but when you swap mayo for a tangy vinaigrette and add charred greens, magic happens.

Banish flashbacks of bland zucchini with this crunchy, cheesy, salty, citrusy salad.

Get set to impress with this ice cream cake with all of the familiar flavors and textures you'd find in a banana split, like a caramel banana jam, maraschino cherries suspended in vanilla ice cream, and a heavy hand of crushed peanuts sprinkled on top.

In place of vinegar, finger limes give this mignonette its zing (pulp from regular limes works just as well).

The type of fish you use is less important than its quality. Black bass, striped bass, and fluke all translate well; ask your fish guy for what's freshest.

With a mega-flame and a gargantuan pot, you can cook an ocean's worth of seafood in a fraction of the time it would take on the stovetop—without stepping foot in a steamy kitchen.