Make Ahead

A spoonful of this sweet, earthy condiment perks up eggs, grain dishes, and simply prepared proteins.

A steak sauce good enough to rival the most popular brand makes this steak (or any, really) even more delicious.

More proof that salt makes any dessert taste better—we'd even top these puddings with crushed potato chips.

This salad's secret? Combining raw and roasted beets delivers two textures from one ingredient.

This dressing is a little sweet from the miso and pear, and aromatic from the ginger and lime; pair it with something peppery, like radishes for dipping or a watercress salad.

Cook the chickpea mixture until it resembles wet concrete; it won't set up if it's undercooked.

The mushrooms are not salted as they cook—this is intentional. The teriyaki sauce they're tossed in adds plenty.

Breakfast is just the beginning. Use this in stir-fries, to marinate tofu, or to glaze chicken as it roasts.

The salty-sweet-sour umeboshi complement the earthy notes in the beets.

Editor's note: Use this recipe to make Chef David Chang's Bo Ssäm. This is the kimchi we use most often in our cooking and in our restaurants.

At first glance, this might look like a simple lamb stew, but you will be delighted by its finesse when you remove the lamb from the bone, return it to the pot, and toss with your favorite pasta. The secret to this deep and succulent sauce is the Basic Fond de Veau , a reduced veal stock whose unctuousness is well worth the extra preparation. The lamb can be made ahead, to concentrate the flavors. This ragout makes a surprisingly satisfying dish for entertaining.

The success of a dessert as simple as apple pie depends on using perfect ingredients: tart, flavorful apples like Sierra Beauty, good buttery pie dough, and just enough sugar to bring out the flavor of the apples. You can always make a double-crusted pie, but for something different, try this one with its crumb topping.

This pasta is tasty made with kale, collards, or any greens you have growing in the garden. I will go and cut whatever is ready or use what I brought home from the farmers' market. I like to include something that has a bit of spice, such as broccoli rabe, red mustards, or mature rocket. Many times I will cook more greens than I need and put them in the refrigerator to make a quick pasta another time. (Add the garlic and goat cheese at the time you are going to toss them with the pasta.) This is perfect for those days when dinnertime shows up before you know it.

This gluten-free crust is inspired by the very popular gluten-free cakes we've baked at CakeLove for years. Here, I've added freshly ground golden flaxseeds, which add a wonderful, nutty aroma and taste to the dough. The rice flour lends sweetness, and millet is a good substitute for the starch component in flour, but it doesn't do much in the way of binding. That task is left to the tapioca and egg white, which help hold the dough together as you roll it out.

Like most recipes in this book, this salad can be altered endlessly and tweaked to your liking. Have a cup of kale left over from dinner? Dice it and mix into your fish salad for an added boost of flavor, fiber, and vitamin K. Or try adding some of your favorite hot sauce to this recipe and serve it on whole grain crackers as a snack or hors d'oeuvre. The options are endless.

Visually speaking, these are very cool cookies, which resemble candy canes by twisting red and white strands together like a barber-shop pole. When the holidays roll around every year, Lisa and the kids whip up a huge batch of these, then invite all the cousins over for a last-second party. These taste even better the day after you bake them, and will keep for about a week and a half in an airtight container.

All the kids in our family used to get together and make these cookies at our house every year; now we do it at the Carlo's factory.