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Simple and beautiful. If you can’t find small carrots, use medium ones, halved and cut into five-inch pieces.

This recipe doubles easily: Shape the extra hash browns into smaller cakes. Bake as directed, checking for doneness a bit sooner than indicated, and cool on the sheet. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm in the oven, then top with crème fraîche and smoked salmon or caviar for appetizers in the evening.

In this recipe, the potatoes are boiled, gently flattened in a kitchen towel, brushed with oil, and grilled. The result? Potatoes that are creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

When adding the pesto and hot water to the pasta, taste to get a good balance of flavor and texture.

Tomatoes at the peak of flavor need only fresh herbs, a drizzle of olive oil, and a few minutes on a hot grill.

The chutney is macerated in vinegar and sugar, creating a syrupy sauce that also softens the fruit.

Cooking cruciferous vegetables without boiling them, as in this recipe, seems to make them more fragrant and heady—just the way the robust Romans like their food.

In Italy, this recipe is a classic holiday dish. For Christmas Eve, it would generally be served at room temperature, as part of a buffet.

This fast-cooking frittata has a lighter texture than most.

When corn season is over, this soup is one of the dishes I miss most. I think you'll like cooking the kernel-less cobs with the milk—it's a great way to get every last bit of flavor from the corn.

For a healthier alternative to french fries, try this baked version.

This recipe calls for a thin, freshly made tomato sauce. Using this sauce will produce the best flavor and texture, but in a pinch you could substitute any plain canned sauce.

In Morocco, toasted cumin is served right beside salt and pepper as a standard seasoning at every meal. Judging by the way it amplifies the taste of the roasted eggplant in this dish, the Moroccans have got the right idea.

Instead of the often-leaden, mayo-heavy supermarket slaw, why not try this wonderfully crisp version? The ginger and rice vinegar provide a fresh, clean flavor, and the serrano gives it just the right spark of heat.

The crunch of celery is a terrific counterpoint to the buttery quality of the Yukon Gold potatoes. Serving this salad alongside the <epi recipelink="" id="243164">salmon cakes</epi> or any grilled meat only adds to the celebration of textures.

You might run across purslane, with its glossy, plump leaves, at a farmers market—and you might even find it growing in the cracks of your sidewalk or in your yard. Luckily, this incredibly nutritious and juicy green is a weed, which means it pops up wild nearly everywhere. Lots of chopped parsley and a simple vinaigrette flatter its herbal, lemony crunch.