Make Ahead

"As a kid, I'd accompany my mother to her job at the racetrack, where she would lead the horses out to the starting gate," writes Michael Hunter of Studio City, California. "Eventually I was helping out in the stalls, and when I got older, I became a jockey. My mother was also the person who, in a roundabout way, inspired my other passion: cooking. I'd come home from school, and she would have prepared something from a box or can. I didn't always like what was on the dinner table, so one day I asked her to buy me a cookbook. Pretty soon I was making dinner for us almost every night. Now, after seventeen years of racing horses and cooking for family and friends, I'm making the jump to professional cooking."

The amount of water necessary to make pastry dough is likely to change slightly from time to time, depending on variables such as humidity and the moisture content of your butter and even, believe it or not, your flour. This recipe is used to prepare Beef En Croûte with Coriander Walnut Filling.

A super-creamy dessert that will have cheesecake lovers begging for seconds.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, but requires additional unattended time.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

This butter is delicious on grilled fish or roast chicken, and will keep, chilled, up to 1 week, or frozen up to 1 month. Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

To bake these tartlet shells all at once, you will need 50 tartlet pans, each 2 inches in diameter (across the top) and 1/2 inch deep. However, you could also make these tartlets in batches, using fewer pans.

This is the best ever use for your microwave! The sweet-sour flavor complements Daniel Boulud's Short Ribs.

This recipe, a refined trail mix if you will, is based on mendiants, a traditional French Christmas dish that consists of almonds, figs, hazelnuts, and raisins. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less

Don't let the name fool you. This chicken is sweet from the honey, but it's also very spicy from a jalapeño chili and plenty of black pepper. Frosty lager beer and orzo salad are cooling accompaniments. The chicken needs to marinate for at least four hours, so begin preparing it ahead of time.

This recipe was created to prepare Quebec Maple Sugar Pie and Spiced Pecan Pie. The amount of water necessary to make pastry dough is likely to change slightly from time to time, depending on variables such as humidity and the moisture content of butter and even, believe it or not, flour. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, but requires additional unattended time.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

In addition to being great with milk at breakfast time, this is nice sprinkled over yogurt, fruit or ice cream, or baked into your favorite granola cookies or bars.

The dough for these simple cookies can be done ahead and refrigerated for up to two days before being sliced and baked.