Lamb Shanks With Pomegranate and Walnuts

This side dish is flavorful enough to also serve as a main course.

We don’t bake with grapes as often as we should. But even the most average supermarket varieties come alive when roasted with a bit of sugar and seasoning.

Caramelized onions, melty Gruyère, and a deeply savory broth deliver the kind of comfort that doesn’t need improving.

This sauce is slightly magical. The texture cloaks pasta much like a traditional meat sauce does, and the flavors are deep and rich, but it’s actually vegan!

Salmoriglio is a Mediterranean sauce with herbs, garlic, and olive oil. In this version, kelp is used as the base of the sauce.

Cabbage is the unsung hero of the winter kitchen—available anywhere, long-lasting in the fridge, and super-affordable. It’s also an excellent partner for pasta.

An ex-boyfriend’s mom—who emigrated from Colombia—made the best meat sauce—she would fry sofrito for the base and simply add cooked ground beef, sazón, and jarred tomato sauce. My version is a bit more bougie—it calls for caramelized tomato paste and white wine—but the result is just as good.

An espresso-and-cumin-spiked rub (or brine) gives this smoked chicken impressive flavor.