Simple Cooking

Jasper Soffer, bartender at the Mulberry Project in New York City, created this simple-to-prepare seasonal cocktail for our story Spring Cocktails Perfect for Brunch. The rhubarb simple syrup, Soffer explains, is simultaneously sweet and tart, not unlike a rhubarb-apple crumble or a strawberry-rhubarb pie. If you want to make this drink outside rhubarb's short early-spring season, frozen fruit makes a great substitute.

Caramelized pineapple with a honey-orange glaze makes for a quick and elegant weeknight dessert.

Finely ground black sesame seeds create a deeply flavored and dramatically hued cake.

Sweet meets salty in these oatmeal-raisin cookies flecked with crisp bacon bits. They're great for breakfast or an afternoon snack alongside a cup of coffee.

Barigoule is typically a stew of artichokes. This version blends vegetables in a bit of vanilla-scented sauce.

Sean Traynor, bartender at The Windsor in Phoenix, Arizona, created this crisp, beautifully hued cocktail for our story Spring Cocktails Perfect for Brunch. Sparkling wine is often used to top off a drink, but in this case Traynor mixes it with the rest of the ingredients in the cocktail shaker. The reason? He's using it more for its acidity and flavor than effervescence. For pure peach flavor, Traynor insists on a true peach-based liqueur, so put away the peach Schnapps; he recommends Sathenay Crème de Pêche de Vigne Liqueur, Rothman & Winter Orchard Peach Liqueur, or Massenez Crème de Pêche.

I grew up on green beans thoren, and while I'll never tire of its crunchy deliciousness, I think adding corn makes it even better. And even though people don't often associate stir-fries with Indian cooking, this dish is a favorite in Kerala. It's a combination of diced vegetables and coconut, but the key is moistening the coconut so it can soak up the ground spices first. This recipe is part of our menu for Sadhya, a South Indian feast.

Jim Lahey keeps these moist by adding grated boiled potato.

Save time by purchasing sliced stemmed shiitake mushrooms and wasabi paste in a tube. If the paste isn't available, mix 2 teaspoons wasabi powder with 1 tablespoon water.

The heat chars the edges of the romaine leaves and softens the inner layers.

We love the way these quickly pickled, supercrisp pears play off the briny and intense kimchi.

Serve these sweet and savory potatoes as a side dish for pork or duck, or as a main course with a salad on the side.

A little bit of bacon and a handful of raisins add a smoky sweetness that balances the slightly bitter flavor of the little cabbages.

In North India these legume wafers are called papad and are dry-roasted over a flame, but in the South they are deep-fried until they form lots of air bubbles and become light and puffy. They are sold in many flavors, but plain is preferred in Kerala. Pappadams are always part of a Sadhya: You crush one up and mix it together with rice, dhal, and ghee. The pappadam helps to bind all the ingredients together so you can form balls when eating with your hand. Store-bought wafers are used almost exclusively by Indian cooks because the traditional recipes are labor-intensive and require days of drying in the hot sun. This recipe is part of our menu for Sadhya, a South Indian feast.

Sure, you can mix it with cola, but we prefer our spiced rum in a proper cocktail like the Kona Swizzle, a floral riff on the classic Queen's Park Swizzle, Created by New York city bartender Brian Miller.

Bake in large decorative paper molds (found at kitchen supply stores), or simply line standard muffin tins with your favorite liners.

When both the recipe developer (Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez) and the cross-tester (Melissa Roberts) raved about this soup, it was clear we had a winner! This almost-vegetarian chowder is chock full of a variety of colorful diced vegetables. Of course, we love the smoky nuance the bacon gives it, but if you wanted to make this strictly vegetarian, just lose the bacon and use vegetable stock in place of the chicken broth. This is ski-house material to feed a hungry horde, or use a long weekend to have several smaller gatherings to pay back all your friends (once you’ve cleaned for one party, you might as well throw another one).

This quintessential Kerala vegetable curry marries many of the best ingredients of the region: coconut, curry leaves, green chiles, and a host of tropical vegetables. All the vegetables are cut into batons and poached in a spiced yogurt-coconut sauce. This recipe is part of our menu for Sadhya, a South Indian feast.

Crunchy edges and soft centers make Lahey's cookies a classic.

When gooseberries are in season, Redzepi juices them to flavor this dish. Verjus (a tart bottled juice made from unripe grapes) or a combination of white grape juice and cider vinegar make great substitutes.