Food Processor

For a substantial vegetarian spin on köfte(a kind of Middle Eastern meatball), we beefed up grated zucchini with fresh herbs and mashed chickpeas. The accompanying pilaf, which uses both beets and their greens, is brilliantly colored and gets a joyous crunch from slivered almonds.

Anne Whiteman was the mother of Michael Whiteman, a Brooklyn native and the business and creative partner of the legendary Joe Baum in designing and operating many restaurant projects, among them the food services of the World Trade Center, including Windows on the World, and the restoration and operation of the Rainbow Room. If this is the kind of food Michael grew up eating, then it's no wonder his palate is so finely tuned. This recipe is typical of highly evolved dairy noodle kugels, in that it is dessert-sweet and topped with corn flakes, although it doesn't call for the canned crushed pineapple that so many less refined recipes do. Here, the cottage cheese is pureed with the sour cream, milk, and eggs to form a silken custard to hold the noodles. Michael and I are not certain how his mother arrived at the odd amount of sour cream, but I have decided not to change it. It is called "birthday kugel" because his mother made it mainly for those celebratory occasions.

Serve a platter of cookies alongside the pears and ice cream. The night before you make the cookies, place the dried cherries in a small bowl of crème de cassis. The soaking will infuse the fruit with the flavor of the black-currant liqueur.

Dried guajillo chiles and New Mexico chiles can be found in some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Latin markets.

Pomegranate juice adds tartness to this famous French dessert.

Hazelnuts stand in for almonds in this tasty version of the classic Spanish sauce romesco.

A fragrant peach and berry filling is topped with slightly crunchy, gingery biscuits. You'll notice that the biscuits  contain grated hardboiled egg yolk: It adds some body.

An absolutely delicious (and patriotic) treat. The white chocolate cream is so good, you can eat it on its own with fresh berries.

Not your average sundae: Strawberry sorbet takes the place of ice cream; Prosecco sabayon (an airy, foamy custard) is the sauce; and sugared almonds add crunch.

Two American classics in one dessert: A rich milk chocolate cheesecake sandwiched between a buttery graham cracker crust and a fluffy marshmallow topping.

Cedar-plank cooking infuses the shrimp with a delicious smokiness. Use leftover chipotles in flavored butter, guacamole, and vinaigrettes.

The combination of tuna and olives is reminiscent of a salade niçoise.

Spain's famous piquillo peppers add a sweet-spicy edge to the aioli. Idiazábal, a smoky sheep's-milk cheese from the Basque region, is great with the portobellos. If you can't find Idiazábal, substitute smoked Gouda.

A flaky crust and a chocolate filling topped with a glistening tumble of raspberries—what's not to love?

The sorbet can also be made with pluots or plumcots (plum-apricot hybrids).