5 Ingredients or Fewer

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's book, Raw.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's book, Raw.

I am delighted to see broccoli di rape in the supermarket almost year-round and of excellent quality: fresh, bright-green stems and leaves, with tight heads of pale-green florets (don't buy any with yellowed, open flowers). I hope you are familiar with this versatile vegetable — related to both turnips and broccoli — and love its unique bitter-almond taste as much as I do. This warm salad is a particularly easy way to prepare broccoli di rape, and its mild flavor and comforting texture will please even those family members who are wary of new vegetables!

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's book, Raw.

(Schokoladeglasur) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Rick Rodgers's book Kaffeehaus: The Best Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. To read more about Austrian cooking, click here. This recipe originally accompanied Sachertorte . This ebony-dark, shiny, intensely sweet chocolate glaze was originally invented to coat Sachertorte, but it's a great icing to use for many other baked goods. The authentic icing must be cooked into syrup that hardens to a fudge-like consistency (some bakers also temper the syrup, a difficult optional step). Schokoladeglasur stays glossy at any temperature, as long as the cake has an undercoat of preserves. Be sure to allow the undercoat to cool and set before applying the chocolate glaze, and use the chocolate glaze immediately after making it, while it is still warm and fluid. What to do with the leftover glaze that inevitably drips off the pastries and ends up underneath the cooling rack? It makes great hot chocolate! Scrape it up and store it in a covered container in the refrigerator. When you want a cup of hot chocolate, place milk and a few tablespoons of the chocolate glaze to taste in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat, whisking often, to warm the milk and melt the glaze.

This fruit butter makes a quick dessert. It's also a great snack on bread or toast. We use it in a low-fat recipe for a moist and chunky apple butter spice cake. We have found preserving in half-pint (250 mL) jars convenient, since that recipe calls for that amount of apple butter. But if you use larger jars, you'll have lots left for other uses.

In winter we use a variety of greens and winter vegetables to make interesting salads that taste fresh, refresh our palates, and aren't trying to reproduce the delicate leafy greens of the summer.

A panachée is a mixture of two or more ingredients with different colors, flavors, or shapes. For this one, I mix fruits and fruit puree with cookies and cream. It takes only a few minutes to prepare and almost any berries will work. I like to serve these desserts in shallow glass bowls or goblets. Although any cookies will do, I prefer to use Scottish shortbread cookies in this dessert.

(Marillenglasur) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Rick Rodgers's book Kaffeehaus: The Best Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. To read more about Austrian cooking, click here. This recipe originally accompanied Sachertorte. Fruit glazes — easily prepared from preserves — add flavor, protect crisp crusts from getting soft in contact with moist fillings, and provide a slick undercoat that adds extra sheen when another glaze is poured over the dessert. Apricot and red currant are the most versatile, as their acidity balances the sweetness of the dessert, but you can use another favorite flavor, if you wish. Just be sure to use preserves, and not jam or jelly, which have different fruit-sugar ratios. The preserves must be simmered for a few minutes to evaporate excess liquid and give a firm, slick finish to the glazed dessserts. It's best to turn an entire 12-ounce jar of preserves into glaze, storing the glaze in the empty preserves jar, so you have small amounts ready when needed.

(Vanillesauce) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Rick Rodgers's book Kaffeehaus: The Best Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. To read more about Austrian cooking, click here. This recipe originally accompanied Farmer's Cheese and Raisin Filo Strudel. A cousin to the French crème anglaise, this pale yellow dessert sauce is called Kanarienmilch, or "canary milk," in some old cookbooks. The Viennese version is boiled, as the egg yolks are protected from curdling by the cornstarch. This makes it a slightly thicker, less egg-rich sauce that beautifully offsets Austro-Hungarian desserts. Because it takes less watching, I now use Vanillesauce whenever I need a vanilla dessert sauce.

Makedonitiki Melitzanosalata Editor's note: The recipe below is excerpted from Diane Kochilas's book The Greek Vegetarian. Kochilas also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Kochilas and Greek cuisine, click here.

Although the marinade sounds similar to several of those given for tofu, it's just different enough that, when used on the completely different tempeh, you have a wholly distinct, and wholly delicious, dish. This is a base preparation. Use the baked tempeh as part of a component plate, sauced or unsauced, cut up as the filling for spring rolls with tempeh, added to a vegetable stir-fry, or as the centerpiece of a hearty sandwich. Traditional Indonesian flavorings for such a marinade are salt water (in lieu of tamari or shoyu soy sauce), fresh pressed garlic, and dried coriander.

Happily, we found that the only word which rhymes with Clicquot was a tasty white rum.

This spoon bread is as tender as a soufflé but much simpler to make.

Fill a glass pitcher or punch bowl with this fun, fruity wine-based aperitif.

The olive-oil-glazed potatoes make a perfect accompaniment to this dish.