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This is one of our deli’s best-selling items in the summer. Two cups may seem like a lot of oil, but the soup really doesn’t have the same rich flavor with any less (we’ve tried). You can, of course, reduce the amount if you like. You can also use any combination of Roma and heirloom tomatoes.

Pimientos de Padrón are little peppers that hail from Spain, where they’re simply prepared and served as a tapa or snack. You can eat these tender peppers whole, and they go perfectly with a glass of crisp dry sherry. This preparation hardly requires a recipe, but it’s so good that it deserves the formal attention of one. If you can’t find Pimientos de Padrón, look for Italian friarielli or Japanese shishitsu peppers (often stocked at Japanese grocers). In their absence, fresh okra spears make an excellent substitute—they just take a little longer to cook. You may also want to add a sprinkle of chile flakes to replicate the occasional heat of the Padróns.

This is a great basic recipe that allows for interchangeable veggies. You can use any combination of root veggies, including rutabagas, turnips, or different potatoes. The cream adds a nice richness and velvety texture, but you can get a similar effect without the cream if you use a rich, creamy potato like a yellow finn or German butterball. And when it’s available, spring green garlic is a great substitute for the regular garlic for an added burst of flavor.

This is one of my favorite ways to showcase the fresh and delicate flavors of spring: sweet peas, tender green garlic, and mint. Serve with crostini or fresh spring veggies as a dip (pictured), or spread it on sandwiches. You can also use fava beans in place of the peas, or use a combination. Truffle pecorino would also work well in this recipe.

This simple but luscious soup has all the basic elements of minestrone: broth, beans, and veggies. If you can find it, erbette chard is my favorite variety to use. It’s sweet and nutty, with an incredible silky texture when cooked. Serve with grilled or toasted crusty bread, rubbed with the cut side of a halved garlic clove, and drizzle with olive oil.

This salad demonstrates how fresh winter can taste. The raw fennel is clean, aromatic, and crisp, the citrus sweet and a touch bitter, and the avocado rich and smooth. You can substitute other citrus with similar success or even use several types. To really take this salad over the top, I love to top it with fresh plucked Dungeness crab meat (another winter wonder); about 8 ounces is perfect for four servings.

This salad is inspired by the incredible version I had at New York City’s Il Buco restaurant. One bite will convince you that compared to romaine, kale is a better match for assertive Caesar dressing. You can omit the egg yolk if you want to play it safe, but don’t try this without anchovy; it makes the dish. This version is crouton-less; if you add them, make a bit more dressing.

Our customers are an incredibly diverse group of people, but there’s one thing that unites them: their love for our latkes. We used to make them only for Jewish holidays, but now they’re a staple in our deli for Jews and non-Jews alike. Our version includes butternut squash and fresh herbs, which give the latkes a freshness that most other kinds lack. This recipe employs a trick that we use extensively in our commercial kitchen: we brown the latkes on the stove top and finish the cooking in the oven. It not only minimizes the time you spend standing over a hot pan but also reduces the amount of oil needed and frees up the stove top for whatever else you might want to make. I love these as a first course or a light supper, especially when paired with smoked salmon or trout. Applesauce and sour cream are great, too.

This silky, sophisticated soup is proof that beans can be so much more than humble peasant food. Serve it as a warming first course or main dish. You can use cannellini beans or white navy beans in this soup, but given the choice, I prefer the cannellinis. They’re larger and have comparatively less skin, so they produce a creamier soup.

Good hummus is hard to find; I find that most lack the acid needed to balance the nutty richness of tahini and olive oil, making it fall flat on your tongue. A little extra lemon juice completely transforms hummus to something much brighter in flavor. That’s why the best hummus is homemade—besides, nothing could be simpler or more satisfying. I firmly believe that my mother’s hummus is the benchmark for all other hummus out there. She personally taught our chef Eddy how to make it, and he in turn has trained all of our crew to make exceptionally delicious hummus. I keep a blend of ground toasted cumin and coriander in my spice set; it’s a great addition to Middle Eastern and Mexican dishes. I usually toast 2 tablespoons each of the whole spices in a sauté pan on low heat until aromatic and lightly toasted, about 2 minutes. Once cooled, I grind in a coffee grinder reserved for spices; a mortar and pestle also works.

It’s easy to overwhelm oysters with a topping that’s too bold or too rich, but chef Rick Moonen knows just when to stop. His hors d’oeuvre, served at the 2008 Workshop, elevates the oysters’ briny flavor, and frankly, it’s just fun to eat. Each oyster makes a tangy splash in your mouth, with cool, warm, brisk, and sweet elements in perfect balance.

Belgian endive, toasted walnuts, and Gorgonzola make a satisfying winter salad—and a successful pizza topping. Brian first covers the pizza dough with a layer of caramelized onions, then sprinkles on the braised endive, crunchy nuts, and clumps of creamy Gorgonzola dolce, a young, mild version of the familiar Italian blue cheese. Cut the hot pie into thin wedges for an appetizer, or serve larger wedges with a salad for dinner.

This crusty soufflé rises spectacularly in the oven and makes a grand entrance when you bring it to the table. The pureed parsnips add an intriguing nuttiness to this otherwise classic dish. Make it a first course at a dinner party or the main event at a more casual autumn or winter meal. Accompany it with lightly dressed butter lettuces, perhaps tossed with some sliced avocado and blood orange segments. The recipe is from Chef Michael Smith, who participated in the 2000 Workshop.

Like most of the chefs we take to visit Forni-Brown Gardens (see page 164) in Calistoga, Rocco di Spirito was overwhelmed by the bounty. This farm grows impeccable lettuces, tomatoes, herbs, and other produce for some of the most discriminating restaurants in Napa Valley. For his astonishing first course at the 2000 Workshop, Rocco used Forni-Brown beets, baby carrots, tiny tomatoes, and three kinds of basil. This aromatic stovetop braise is an adaptation of the more elaborate dish he made.

Many people never think to cook radishes, but they are delicious when braised gently in butter. Brian likes to pair them with sugar snap peas, which mature in Dolores’s garden at about the same time. You could add other spring vegetables, such as turnips, baby carrots, or English peas. Blanch them separately (as for the sugar snap peas here) so they don’t pick up any radish color, then combine them all just long enough to reheat. Serve with Slow-Roasted King Salmon with Garden Herbs (page 110) or spring lamb.

When our wine-club members receive their wine shipment, we include a recipe that we enjoy with the featured bottle. Cakebread resident chef Tom Sixsmith devised this pasta preparation to accompany the Chardonnay Reserve, but you may find that you want to make the dish weekly in asparagus season. The nutty whole-wheat pasta and smoky bacon help combat the notion that asparagus doesn’t go with wine.

Brian spreads a roasted-garlic paste on the dough under the mushrooms and potatoes, which gives this pizza an irresistible fragrance. If you have access to wild mushrooms, by all means use them. Bellwether Farms Crescenza cheese is a soft, supple, young cow’s milk cheese that melts well; mozzarella is stretchier, but a good substitute.

In late spring, when California asparagus are still available and the Cakebread garden is yielding the year’s first onions, Brian makes this delicate pizza bianca (a “white pizza,” or pizza without tomato sauce). The fresh-dug onions haven’t been cured yet, so they don’t have papery skins, and their flavor is mild. Many supermarkets sell “spring onions” that look like thick scallions with a bulbous root end. They would work in this recipe, as would leeks or even cured yellow onions, but uncured onions have the most delicate taste. Choose a fresh ricotta without pectin or other stabilizers. The Bellwether Farms ricotta from neighboring Sonoma County is our favorite.

Brian does most of the cooking at home for his wife, Kristina, and their two small children, but this salad is one of Kristina’s specialties. She adapts it to the season, but quinoa is always the starting point. Nutty and quick cooking, quinoa is high in protein and will hold up for about an hour after it’s dressed. Serve this refreshing winter salad with pork, chicken, or fish, or with feta for a meatless meal.

By adding a puff pastry top, Chef Albert Bouchard transforms an easy autumn vegetable soup into a first course suitable for company. The puff pastry seals in all the aromas until diners breach the flaky caps with their spoons. Note that you will need individual ovenproof soup crocks, similar to the type used for French onion soup. The diameter on top should be no more than 5 inches to have the proper ratio of soup to pastry. Chef Bouchard attended the 2006 Workshop.