Simple Cooking

Pea pesto is a condiment, a sauce, a flavor enhancer. I spread it on grilled skirt steak marinated in horseradish and on lamb chops. I sauce spaghettini with pea pesto (just boil the pasta in chicken stock and toss in the pea pesto and garnish with toasted breadcrumbs) and I dress cold roast chicken with pea pesto and homemade yogurt. I broil or grill seafood skewers and serve them on a pillow of pea pesto; I sauté scallops or swordfish in the pan with pea pesto; and serve poached eggs on an English muffin spread with pea pesto. For extra zing, you can add a tablespoon of horseradish to every cup of peas.

A flavor bomb, this dish highlights the fragrant hot cherry pepper. I make it for company because the dish is unusual, very seasonal, and warms up well, so I can enjoy the cocktail hour, too. If you find seeded pickled cherry peppers in the deli section of your supermarket, you can skip the first step in the recipe.

I make a ricotta that is blissfully dry, which works well in my recipes for ravioli, lasagna, and as a garnish on salads and pasta dishes. If you want a creamy ricotta, to serve dressed with a fruit syrup or to spread on crostini or to make cannoli cream, then you need to add some cream to the recipe: Replace 1 cup of the whole milk with heavy cream. Goat milk makes a creamier ricotta as well.

There is no USDA data for water bath canning artichokes. I developed this recipe, which has a pH of 3.5, well within the safety limits for water bath canning. The processing time is based on the recommended time for marinated peppers, which contain similar quantities of olive oil—an important consideration when water bath processing foods. Rather than discard the outer leaves, boil them for about 10 minutes. Chill and serve with mayonnaise; or serve hot, with melted butter for dipping. The marinade left over after you've finished the jar of artichokes is delicious and can be used to flavor other dishes.

My criteria when it comes to recipes are these: Is it tasty enough that I will crave it over and over? Is it easy? And does it look pretty? This recipe hits those marks. It is moistest, richest, most flavorful pound cake I have ever made.

Satisfying nut medleys taste better when they're not dumped straight from the "deluxe assortment" can.

A platter of raw vegetables to share is the perfect way to warm up to the Thanksgiving meal. They're impossible to fill up on, and a great way to show off seasonal produce. Just pick the vegetables that look fresh and enticing, and you'll create a guest-worthy platter.

This showstopping dessert has a few components and requires some chilling time, but it's surprisingly easy to put together and can be done well ahead of time. Making the caramel layer is the only involved step, and if you want to skip this step, just use a good jar of dulce de leche instead.

This simple dish employs the French technique of cooking vegetables in a mixture of water and butter. The water eventually cooks out after steaming the vegetables, leaving them glazed with the butter. This is a dish that can be cooked while the turkey is resting.

A simple puréed soup, known as velouté in French, is the perfect way to whet the appetite and take the edge off hunger without overfilling your guests' bellies before the big feast. Here, chestnuts, which come already roasted in jars, make an earthy and seasonal soup that can be made well ahead of time. Serve in shallow bowls, or even teacups or shot glasses, while guests are still milling around.

Since most of us cook our stuffing outside the bird as dressing, why not take the French theme one step further and make a savory French bread pudding instead? You can substitute challah for the buttery brioche--just note that you may require a bit more liquid since the bread should be soaked through.

Valrhona chocolate pearls give these cookies great crunch, but you can also swap them out in favor of an equal amount of malted milk balls—or skip both and simply double the chocolate chunks. For cookies with a super-gooey middle, skip the refrigerating step and simply scoop the dough onto baking sheets and freeze. You can bake the cookies straight from frozen (you may need to add a few minutes to the baking time). Store frozen dough balls in a resealable freezer bag in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Slow-roasting halibut and leeks in olive oil is one of the easiest, most elegant ways to serve fish at a dinner party.

Parsnips are naturally sweet and not too starchy, which makes for an ultra-silky mash.

You need a palate-cleansing salad to balance the rich pork and hearty sides: This is it.

For a beautiful, almost bone-white soup, don't let the leeks and onion take on any color as they soften.

Brining the nuts with herbs and some spice infuses them from the inside out, and the long roasting time gives them extra toasty flavor.

Shortening makes for the flakiest pie crust. But you won't miss the buttery flavor-there's plenty in the filling.

Use a very sharp cheddar to make this—it's the difference between pimiento cheese and cheesy mayonnaise.