Carrot

(Khoresh-e fesenjan) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Najmieh Batmanglij's book A Taste of Persia. Batmanglij also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Batmanglij and Persian cuisine, click here. Traditionally this recipe is made with duck: The affinity between pomegranate and duck goes back to ancient times in Persia. Fourth-century Persian manuals describe the domestication of the male duck, fed on hemp seeds and the butter of olives. The finest meal possible was one of these ducks served in a pomegranate sauce. This recipe recreates that ancient dish.

Utensils needed: Mixing bowl; whisk; wooden spoon; large bowl; three 6-inch loaf pans, lightly buttered and dusted with Wondra flour; wire rack
Baking time: Approximately 25 minutes
Storage: Wrap tightly. Keep at room temperature up to 1 day; refrigerated, up to 1 week; frozen, up to 3 months.

Editor's note:
This recipe is adapted from chef Joseph Poon. He also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Poon and Cantonese cuisine, click here. Chop suey is an Americanized Cantonese dish that dates back to the late 1800s, when it was served in Western mining camps and in San Francisco's Chinatown. The usual components are bean sprouts, sliced celery, onions, meat, and water chestnuts, all stir-fried with soy sauce. Chef Poon updates and lightens the dish by using a sophisticated array of vegetables and tofu instead of meat, and blanching the ingredients instead of frying.

Pre-peeled baby carrots make this soup super-easy. For a dramatic garnish, place a whole star anise atop each serving.

The holidays are gone, and the relatives have left. You can also say farewell to the season's fatty foods with this veggie-loaded soup created by Lulu Powers, Madonna's caterer. One bowl dishes more than all of your RDA for vitamin A and 20 percent for potassium. Bonus: Eating soup before a meal means you'll consume fewer total calories.

Jesse Ziff Cool, author of Your Organic Kitchen (Rodale Press), advises, "When moving toward any plant-based diet, don't be too drastic. You'll hate it. Instead, cut down the amount of meat you eat and choose vegetables that taste good to you."

Chef: Wylie Dufresne, 71 Clinton Fresh Food, New York City. Claim to fame: His restaurant won a rave review from The New York Times — now it's a hot spot. How he defines natural: "Clean, simple food tastes best; by happy accident it's also healthiest."

We traded fish for fowl for a fresh approach to the classic niçoise salad, and guess what? It's tastier than ever (and still lowfat).
Think salad means a bland bowl of greens? Not with this recipe, adapted from the revised Taste of Summer cookbook by Diane Rossen Worthington (Chronicle Books). The dish is so full of scrumptious finds, you won't miss the lettuce. You can prepare the salad ingredients and dressing in the morning and refrigerate, then combine and serve for dinner.

The chicken and vegetables are strained out for a clear soup. If you'd like, save some chicken and vegetables to serve along with the matzo balls in the soup.

Using multicolored carrots makes this beautiful side dish even more vibrant.

Although this turkey (or chicken) broth is time-consuming to make, it really does benefit from simmering on the stove for hours. The whole heads of garlic mellow into deep sweetness, giving the broth an authentic Italian flavor.

Fried sage works on two levels to make these carrots spectacular: First, the leaves' crisp texture offsets the carrots' tenderness, and second, the aromatic oil that remains in the skillet after frying infuses the vegetable with deep flavor.

We've lightened traditional meatballs with veal and added Mediterranean accents to achieve a bright, springtime flavor. Chicken broth and matzo meal take the place of milk and bread crumbs to keep the meatballs exceptionally tender.

St. Patrick's Day in a flash: A zesty glaze makes corned beef from the supermarket deli your own. The perfect go-with? Wedges of cooked, buttered cabbage, of course.

George Hendrix of Carbondale, Colorado, writes: "My family is usually in a hurry to eat, so dinner has to be on the table fast. This soup was one of my mom's standbys when I was growing up. I often make it in big batches and just ladle it out and microwave as needed." This soup is even better the day after it's made, when the flavors have had a chance to mellow.