Seafood

While reminiscent of a marinara sauce, red bell pepper, cognac, and jalapeño add hints of newness to this luscious, traditional favorite lobster dish.

Quickly braised cabbage adds subtle crunch to scallops infused with a combination of warm, aromatic spices.

Whatever else you set out, great smoked salmon will always draw a crowd. And like any good leading actor, it works well with all of the supporting players, from horseradish cream to egg salad.

Mayonnaise with lemon and thyme gives both extra freshness and a golden-brown crust to delicate, slightly sweet pollock.

To balance the red-wine vinegar and capers in this blend of smoky eggplant and red peppers, anchovies perfume the relish with a deep, savory note. Though this is a natural accompaniment to the zucchini latkes, it also makes a lively option for the potato ones.

In this marriage of give and take, shallot-dill butter makes jumbo shrimp taste as sweet as langoustines. In return, the shrimp impart their juices to the butter as they bake, creating a silky sauce. With toasted brioche in hand, you’ll want to sop up every last drop.

This simple salad, with its lemony dressing and bitter greens, is a nice match for the fried latkes.

Here's a quick way to feed a crowd. The salmon is also great made ahead and served chilled.

Here, chanterelles provide a delicate but satisfying topping for baked fish.

The clams and sausage make a warm and comforting one-pot meal. Toss with cooked linguine, or just serve with toasted pain rustique.

Serve grilled bread alongside the tuna. Be sure to buy domestic albacore to keep the mercury to a minimum.

The tradition of Sicilian cooking is well documented in Anna Tasca Lanza’s works, and she is the zen mistress of all of the island’s fascinating food lore. Her school at Regaleali winery is one of the best I have visited and it was an experience to cook shoulder to shoulder with a modern national treasure. This is a variation on a dish from her first book, Flavors of Sicily.

A simple white wine, garlic, and parsley sauce is all that's needed to complement the fresh shellfish in this Italian pasta dish.

A light sauce of white wine and tomatoes lets the seafood shine in this iconic Italian pasta dish.

Filets de Rouget et Haricots Verts Sauté aux Fruits Secs Highly prized for its firm, mild flesh, red mullet is a darling of French and Mediterranean chefs. Here, it sits on a splendid textural bed of haricots verts, dried apricots, and pine nuts.

Regardless of your foraging skills, you can experience the abundance of the woods with these delectable parcels, which combine the nutty chew of bulgur with rich toasted pine nuts, sweet currants, and smoky trout that could have come from a nearby brook—all neatly wrapped up in a lettuce leaf. And because they're so portable, you can easily enjoy them outdoors on a picnic blanket.

For such a rich fish, tuna is a good team player—it takes well to all kinds of seasoning. Here, I give it some tang by marinating it with lemon juice and zest, onions, capers, rosemary, and the most surprising ingredient: some of the juice from the caper jar. Have fun playing around with the herbs in the salad; just make sure not to toss them with the dressing until you're ready to serve—tender leaves wilt quickly.

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes—with its corn, tomatoes, basil, and unexpected nectarine, it sings out "summer." The first time I made this warm salad, I served it to Michael Newburg and Amelia Hunt, the owners of Falls Brook Organic Farm. Everything was from the market, including the scallops, so Michael and Amelia knew the provenance of every ingredient (including their own basil and tomatoes), which made this delicious dish even better.

You can tell this recipe hails from a tropical environment because of the way the first bite of chiles causes a light sweat to break out on your brow. Then a breeze blows by, and— ahh—you're instantly cooled off and refreshed, able to fully enjoy the sweetness of plump shrimp and an evolving harmony of spices.