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5 Ingredients or Fewer

Bacon-Wrapped Salmon with Wilted Spinach

Wrapped with bacon, these delicious fillets self-baste during broiling, eliminating the need for a sauce.

Cardamom Crème Anglaise

Crème anglaise is both a classic custard sauce and the base for many ice creams. Make a double batch and process half in an ice cream maker for a frozen treat.

Coconut Chocolate Bites

A perfect ending to a Valentine's Day dinner, these bite-size confections are like miniature candy bars — only better. Plus, they keep for a week.

Braised Endives with Haricots Verts

A mix of pleasantly bitter and crisp-tender vegetables perfectly complements the Duck with Walnut Sherry Vinaigrette . Some of the nutty, sweet vinaigrette will inevitably end up on the vegetables, enhancing their flavor.

Nutella Panini

Nutella, a chocolate hazelnut spread, makes these the panini that kids love best. Since they're as simple as a peanut butter sandwich to prepare, our son Jack helps us make them for his playmate friends. This traditional Italian snack is as compelling for grown-ups as it is for their kids.

Goat Cheese Quesadillas with Tomato and Corn Salsa

Editor's note: This recipe was included with two others from our roundup of great cookbooks for Dad. Tangy goat cheese pairs well with spicy salsa for a quick and delicious appetizer or vegetarian entrée. Serve these with extra salsa and guacamole.

Pizza Noodles

Editor's note: This recipe was included with two others from our roundup of great cookbooks for Dad. Lasagna needs to be constructed. That doesn't mean you need blueprints or permits, but it is a whole production. Pizza Noodles are like a sloppy lasagna. You can throw everything together, practically blindfolded. And what kid can resist the name?

Breakfast Sundae

In July of 1864, the Confederate cavalry rode into Owings Mills, Maryland, where an ice cream factory's employees were loading a shipment bound for Baltimore. With rations low, the soldiers seized the ice cream and ate it straight out of the ten-gallon freezers for breakfast. Many of the mountaineers had never seen ice cream before. Some put it into their hats and ate it while riding, while others thought it too cold, so they put it in their canteens to melt.

Amy Sedaris's Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

The recipe and introductory text below are from Amy Sedaris's I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence.

Ziti with Ricotta

Here's a kind of mac and cheese without any effort. Adding goat cheese gives American ricotta the tang it has when it comes from sheep's milk. I learned this trick from Sicilian cooking teacher Anna Tasca Lanza.

Baked Shrimp in Chipotle Sauce

In this spin on New Orleans's classic appetizer of barbecue shrimp, chipotle chiles stand in for cayenne and black pepper, truly transforming the dish with a beguiling play of spice, a hint of smoke, and a gorgeous brick-red color. Here, we serve the shrimp as a main course — but in the spirit of the original, we've kept this a meal to eat with your hands. Peeling the shrimp, slurping their shells, and scooping up the hot, buttery sauce with crusty bread makes for nothing less than a feast. Best of all, it's ready in a flash.

Mexican Chocolate Mousse with Burnt Rum

Mexican chocolate and white rum add up to more than your average chocolate mousse.

Sugar-Cookie Snowmen

The perfect amounts of butter and sugar make these adorable cookies completely addictive. For the best flavor, use high-quality pure vanilla extract.

Peanut Tuiles

Imagine peanut brittle that is as delicate as lace, with the familiar buttery crunch.
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