Vegetarian

Use the whole mint sprigs, stalks included, for a good minty hit.

I encourage rolling up your sleeves and using your hands to mix these spices—it helps to capture a feeling of nostalgia for cooking.

1 pretzel per serving Most pretzels are high in sodium because salt is not only on the outside but in the dough as well. With this recipe for one dough and two topping options, you can easily please all soft-pretzel lovers. Choose sesame, poppy, and caraway seeds for savory pretzels; if you're more in the mood for something sweet, go with the cinnamon-sugar topping.

This is one of my pantry staples; you'll find it in many of the recipes throughout this book. It makes for a super-easy sauce on its own, or you can mix it with lemon juice or vinegar to create a great dressing in less than a minute. Whenever almonds are on sale at the local store, I grab a few bags and make big batches, freezing some for future use. Each time you use this oil, make sure to grab an even proportion of oil to almonds so that you don't end up with a lopsided ratio.

This is simply one of my favorite dishes, and it has a legendary place in the history of my marriage. My wife was not a fan of the vegetable—or of any vegetable. Fan might not be the right word. It's not that she just didn't like them; she actively campaigned against them, prosecuting them, all guilty as charged, although on scant evidence. It was this simple dish that got her to at least begin to consider laying down her sword. The crisp texture, the smoky, charred burn, the transparency of the whole process got her to let her guard down. And now it is a staple. So you might say that this recipe is a gateway vegetable. Other kale varieties are fine for this, but lacinato is the only variety that crisps rather than wilts, allowing you to get great texture very quickly. This is wonderful with a little Chunky Almond Oil drizzled over the top.

I first tried this dish when I was looking for an interesting vegan option to put on my menus. While my restaurants were certainly vegetarian/vegan friendly, the focus of the menu was anything but. I wanted to present some options that were more than the usual, but I kept coming back to hummus, because it is so delicious. So I tried a few different ways to make it, and this one was a winner. Any type of thick-skinned autumn squash will do in this recipe. My favorites are kabocha, butternut, Hubbard, and regular old pumpkin. I prefer to serve this with baguette slices, but it's also good with toasted pita bread triangles or carrot and celery sticks.

Kick off your Independence Day bash with a patriotic take on homemade chips featuring baking potatoes, purple potatoes, and beets that are sliced and then fried into a hot, crispy red, white, and blue snack. Gather your ingredients and check out our tips on the dos and don'ts of deep-frying.

No Fourth of July celebration is complete without a traditional flag cake studded with sweet summer berries. But slice into our Stars and Stripes creation and you'll quickly discover this isn't your everyday vanilla sheet cake with buttercream frosting. For a fresh new take on everyone's favorite red, white, and blue finale, we paired moist chocolate cake with tangy cream cheese frosting, and finished with juicy raspberries and blueberries. Have no fear if cake decorating isn't your strong suit. You'll be able to master this patriotic design using our step-by-step photos and tips for frosting and adorning the ultimate Independence Day dessert.

This salad can be made with raw fava beans, as long as they're especially fresh. But blanching them quickly makes them much easier to peel.

Parcooking in vinegar water helps set the starches so the potatoes get crisp, rather than floury, when roasted.

We love a classic pesto Genovese. But why be limited to basil? Swapping in flat-leaf parsley makes for a balanced sauce that allows you to really taste the nuts, the olive oil, the Parmesan. Sturdy parsley is also easier to find year-round (and more affordable) than basil. Use this sauce as you would any pesto: spooned over grilled vegetables, spread on a sandwich, and, yes, swirled into pasta. Bonus: Parsley pesto holds its vibrant color much longer than the other stuff.

"I like the fact that just three or four main ingredients can make a smashing result," says van Boven about this sweet and crunchy salad.

Spicy Sichuan pepper, which delivers a numbing effect along with nuanced heat, will leave your lips buzzing. Use any leftover chili oil in dressings or marinades.

Gently heating chives— or almost any herb—in oil creates a concentrated, Technicolor elixir that's a favorite weapon of restaurant chefs: It's ideal for whisking into vinaigrettes and drizzling over fish, scrambled eggs, or ricotta crostini.

Some leaves deserve to infiltrate the dessert menu, like lemon verbena, infused here in a whipped cream that can be spooned over just about anything.

"I like unsweetened whipped cream on top," van Boven says, "because the fruit is sweet enough on its own."

The key to a tender biscuit is to handle the dough as little as possible.

Take one bite of the crisp cookies known as fekkas and you're inhaling the perfumes of the Middle East: orange-flower water, anise, sesame seeds, and toasted almonds.

As summer progresses and apricots go out of season, try these desserts with ripe plums instead.