Cheese

Hot-smoked salmon, unlike cured, is fully cooked.

The frittata will be easier to remove from the skillet if it sits for a few minutes—the top will deflate and the edges will pull away from the pan.

The ultimate holiday vacation cooking project: lasagna with two homemade sauces and layers of homemade pasta.

Without the hassle of breading and frying, eggplant Parmesan goes from special-occasion project to easy weeknight dinner.

You can cut and butter the bread well in advance, but don't bake it till guests arrive.

Don't rush the browning of the onions—it's essential to the finished soup's flavor.

These delicate cheese puffs always impress. Once you get the hang of the dough, you'll serve them at every opportunity.

While waiting for a main course to finish cooking, you can make this simple salad with the remnants of a bunch of broccoli. Or, you can integrate the shaved broccoli, which is sweet, mild, and tender, into other lettuce-based salads, or julienne the strips for cabbage slaws.

You can dress this salad about half an hour in advance to no ill effect—the hearty greens can handle it.

This one is cheesy, tangy, and a little spicy. Serve with plenty of crackers.

Strisce means strips—any long pasta will work—and Chiantigiana refers to the Tuscan wine used to flavor the sauce.

Consider this sweet and crunchy dessert a free-form fruit crisp. Be warned: The nutty oat topping is addictive.

Baked eggs are great for brunch, and this version is no exception. But with a salad of leafy greens, it's also hearty and satisfying enough to double as dinner.

Country ham is cured, smoked, and aged. We love Benton's, made in Tennessee.

When you think about peppers, comfort food usually isn't the first thing that comes to minds. But to us, it means home, and for different reasons. Crystal's mawmaw always made great stuffed peppers, and we put that recipe in our first cookbook. And when Sandy tastes a poblano pepper, she's instantly reminded of this recipe, since Sandy's oldest sister, Yvonne, makes these for her every time she comes home for a visit! Poblano peppers are smaller and spicier than their bell pepper cousins, but they're not too hot. Fairly mild overall, they pack a ton of flavor. Best of all, they've perfect for stuffing with a variety of ingredients.

This dish comes together fast for a simple weeknight meal, and it's also elegant enough to serve to any important guest.

Citizens of Casseroleville, bow in the presence of the king of all baked dishes! This recipe gets two thumbs-up not only for being gluten-free, but also for allowing you to keep your blood sugar in check. By replacing lasagna noodles with thin layers of sliced zucchini, the carbs stay low, but the flavor is still full and zesty. We suggest using a mandoline for even slices and quick prep. Just be careful—those things are sharp!

This is an early signature dish of my colleague Jonathan Waxman, who has been at the center of the contemporary American food scene since the early 1970s, when he worked at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and at Michael's in Los Angeles. Waxman now presides over Barbuto—he's "the bearded one"—in the far west Greenwich Village, where all- American inclinations meet simple Italian cooking, frequently in the wood- burning oven. Jonathan's cooking has always been defined by its clarity; there are times when I wonder how he has managed to make something as simple as a roasted chicken or a plate of beets seem so special. Top-quality ingredients in season and vigilant preparations are the answers—what I strive for in my own cooking. This dish is a classic example of the early wave of what was known as the New American Cooking—a movement, if not a revolution, now forty years old and counting. It also demonstrates that a new, even trendy, dish can endure and become a classic—if it has integrity. Nevertheless, you can improvise here. Change the herbs according to what you've got, and the oils for the dressing.

"The maple-tahini dressing is rich but not heavy; you won't feel weighed down," Bemis says.