Fruit

This is a winning-contestant recipe from Season Four of Fox's MasterChef.

"The maple-tahini dressing is rich but not heavy; you won't feel weighed down," Bemis says.

This simple recipe for roasted salmon packs gobs of flavor for little effort. The natural oils in the fish intensify the seasonings. This recipe also can be used for smaller fillets or salmon steaks. You'll just need to watch it as it cooks and adjust the time accordingly. Editor's note: This recipe makes 4 servings, plus more for leftovers. Please see "Deconstructed Sushi" and "Monster Salad" below for tips on how to enjoy, pack, and serve the leftovers.

When I started working at Payard Pâtisserie in New York City, I had already been a pastry chef in Boston for a few years. I couldn't wait to see what this French guy could teach me. On my first day, I was handed a stack of recipes—all in French—and immediately realized it would be a challenging year. I spoke and read basic French, but I was pretty hazy on much of the baking vocabulary, and there were many words I'd never even seen before. Pithivier was one of them. I didn't even know how to pronounce it. (It's pee-tee-vee-YAY .) "Watch and learn," Chef Payard told me. He sandwiched a mound of rum-scented almond cream between two large squares of homemade puff pastry and then quickly scalloped the edges of the pastry to look like a sunflower. Slash-slash-slash went his paring knife over the top pastry as he etched sun rays into the surface. The whole thing went into the oven and emerged golden brown with a glorious starburst pattern on top. It put every other pastry I had ever made previously to shame. At Flour, we give our own spin to the pithivier by omitting the rum and adding a thick layer of caramelized apple butter atop the almond cream. It's a spectacular dessert.

"Don't worry if the fritters seem a little flimsy—they hold together and flip easily during cooking," Bemis says.

If paella escaped from Spain, sailed to China, and did some soul-searching along the way, you'd have arroz gordo, the namesake dish at Chicago's Fat Rice. The generous pot of aromatic rice, curry-scented chicken, and (much) more can be traced back to Macau, the former Portuguese colony in China, where it's almost always served at home. Chefs Conlon and Lo took inspiration from foreign-language cookbooks; their version is a blend of Portuguese and Chinese cooking that Conlon calls "the original fusion."

This bright, vegetarian sauce features lemon three ways: juice, zest, and preserved lemon peel.

Chicken, Red Grapes, Walnuts, Dill, Scallions, Radishes and Arugula When my mom comes to visit on a busy weekday, I want to make a quick yet nutritious lunch for the two of us. Chicken salad is a classic I can usually whip up using ingredients I have left over in my refrigerator. But this recipe is what I call a "basic made better." With less fat than traditional chicken salad, more protein and a lot more flavor, this luscious salad can be enjoyed on anything from a baguette to marbled rye or served in a pita or atop a bed of mixed greens with a side of cornbread. You can't go wrong! And it is all the better if you have cooked chicken on hand. Either way, you can make this satisfying lunch in a snap.

We love using preserved lemons in the BA kitchen, and Philip Krajeck's recipe makes the best we've ever tasted. They take 10 minutes to prep and need only two weeks to cure. Sure, you can buy preserved lemons at specialty stores, but when the end result is this good, we say make your own.

Love a ham sandwich with mustard on rye? Those familiar flavors are reimagined in this easily achievable dish.

Serving a perfectly cooked, crisp-skinned piece of fish in a seasoned lime broth lets you get a spoonful of bright flavor in every bite.

If I were making dessert for one of my favorite movie stars, George Clooney or Meryl Streep, I'd bake this galette because it is simple, rustic, and honest. If you want to serve it to a large group for a special gathering, the recipe doubles easily to make a 12-inch galette. Accompany with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and you have a totally scrumptious home-style dessert. --Marcy

On triple-digit summer days when I have expelled more sweat from my body than I think is possible, replenishing fluids is part of my job. (We can't forget that the health of farmers and farmworkers is a key part of sustainable agriculture.) Although I prefer water, sometimes its zero-calorie refreshment is not quite enough. When I need some sweetness and effervescence, I turn to this homemade soda recipe. It is healthier than commercial soda (economically, environmentally, and biologically) and is a nice treat that reenergizes me for more work. --Nikiko

An invigorating hit of citrus brings together crisp apples, toasty bread and nuts, and sharp cheese, making this one of our favorite recipes this year.

This dish is only as good as the crab it's made with; buy the best you can get.

Sherry is an "It" cocktail ingredient, with enough heft to build a drink around but still relatively low in alcohol.

I call this hapa food. The term hapa is deliciously slippery. It is often used to describe mixed-race Japanese Americans but not always. For me, being hapa provides a way of claiming a whole racial and ethnic identity as opposed to thinking of myself as "just" or "only" half-and-half. I am a whole person, and my experience of race, culture, and nationality is more complicated than adding fractions. This dish did not emerge from a place of separation in which two disparate things were fused together, but rather from the co-constitution, interdependence, and wholeness of my life as a hapa growing peaches in the United States and cooking food from my multiple cultural and racial lineages that go far beyond this country¿s borders. I have learned to make and cook my own path. Biting into this treat is like unleashing a burst of glowing peach wrapped in a crunchy cocoon. This could be served as a side dish with other tempura, on top of a salad, or even with green tea ice cream and chile-infused honey as a dessert. When we step outside of rigid categories, possibilities are infinite, no? --Nikiko

This is one of those sleeper recipes that's more complex-tasting than it sounds. Each element is supereasy to prepare and can be made days in advance, but the finished dessert is a stunner.

Typically steamed or sautéed, fresh mustard greens are also great raw and simply dressed. "I like the strength they give to salads," says de Pue.

Sweet from dates, sour from lemon, bitter from celery, and salty from Parmesan, this humble salad manages to get all taste buds firing at once.