Make Ahead

These are some of the best brownies we've ever had—fudgy in the middle and chewy on the outside with a shiny, crackly top. The browned butter adds a rich, nutty flavor.

Crispy, oversize cookies with a hint of butterscotch flavor.

Home turf: California
Local flavor: In health-conscious California, chili is as likely to be made without meat as it is with it. No self-respecting Texan would sign off on chili with beans, squash, and bulgur—but this lean, mean dish is as delicious as it is healthful.
Make it a meal: continue the Cali fantasy with whole grain bread, an arugula salad with mushrooms and garlicky vinaigrette, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (California, $8 per six-pack).

If you've never tried drying your own tomatoes, you're missing out. The drying process condenses all the tomato sweetness into a savory and chewy piece of heaven. Those store-bought leathery things are good, but your own will be a million times better. All that olive oil makes canning for long-term storage unsafe, but they're so good they never seem to sit around long enough anyway. I like to eat them piled on toast with a fresh basil leaf and slivers of good Parmesan cheese. You'll find your own way to enjoy them soon enough.

Stuffed peppers come out well on the grill if you don't make them too big. I like to mix ground meats and season the stuffed peppers heavily. Be sure to cook a little of the meat mixture to test the seasonings before you stuff the peppers, since the salt and spice levels of the various sausage meats and seasoning mixes vary widely.

There are some high-quality, great-tasting low-fat tomato sauces available on the store shelves these days, so if you don't want to make sauce from scratch (don't tell Mama!), you'd do well with any of the leading brands. But my name is Rocco, after all, and I figured I was under obligation to include at least one from-scratch marinara sauce. There's just a hint of olive oil in it; everything else was bulked up to create great flavor.

The herb-and-spice blend would also be terrific with eggplant or lamb.

Smoked paprika, Spanish chorizo, and Manchego cheese give this a Latin kick. Eat it as a snack or serve with cocktails.

This tomato-Worcestershire-vodka soup gets served in shot glasses for fun. Look for the pickled veggies near the jarred vegetables in the supermarket.

The war was on, and sugar was rationed. Aiming to do its patriotic bit, Gourmet printed an article showing readers how to use honey in place of sugar. The author of the article considered the shortage of sugar a good thing, harrumphing that until the discovery of sugar refining in the middle of the eighteenth century, cooks were very happy to rely on honey. He expressed the hope that "with the present curtailment in our sugar supply, honey will regain much of its former glory." That desire is probably why these cookies are so good; delicate and barely sweet, they are almost biscuit-like and go well with cheese. They also improve immeasurably with age. In a sign of the times, the recipe ran next to a cartoon of a woman emerging from a car in front of a fancy restaurant, peering at the 30-minute parking sign and saying to her husband, "Sometimes I think you park in these restricted areas so we won't have time to order the deluxe dinner."

Crushed peppermint candies make a festive, crunchy topping for these pretty cookies.

A hit of coffee and a blend of spices (cinnamon, cardamom, and two kinds of ginger) perk up this shortbread.

These pretty cookies are a cross between an almond horse shoe cookie and a Linzer cookie. Blackberry or apricot jam would also be delicious.

This is a spicy, vinegary paste from the beautiful region of Goa. It is great with meat, chicken and fish; I have used it in a few recipes to get you started. Just remember when you cook with it, it is all raw so it does need to be well cooked before you use it.

If making the candy ahead, let it stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.