Simmer

This rustic, one-dish meal incorporates ingredients that southwestern France is known for: prunes, Armagnac, leeks, potatoes, and mushrooms. The ragout's combination of sweet, salty, and earthy acts as a complex backdrop for the duck.

While eating at one of the coveted counter seats at Les Cocottes, Christian Constant's chic restaurant, food editor Paul Grimes was deeply inspired by the pumpkin soup, which surprised him with savory little chunks of foie gras waiting at the bottom of the bowl. Here, Grimes explores squash's more savory side by cooking it with a touch of tomato and providing that little bit of sweet surprise in the form of chopped chestnut. With just a dollop of whipped cream, it is rich only in looks and spirit—a spoonful will reveal how unbelievably light it is.

In this unusual side dish from Spring restaurant, often under appreciated parsley gets the creamed-spinach treatment—and a little help from aromatic orange zest, mint, and fresh ginger.

A refreshingly tart version of classic cranberry sauce. If you want it sweeter, just add more sugar.

Serve any leftovers for breakfast, or as a light supper with salad.

Quickly candied grapefruit peel adds a fresh zing.

Crisp beans are paired with sour onions and a sweet maple dressing.

Along with the pan juices, this stock flavors the gravy. Make and freeze it up to two weeks ahead.

Pumpkin seeds are available at many supermarkets and at natural foods stores and Latin markets. The pumpkin seed oil can be found at specialty foods stores and at surfasonline.com.

This comes off as a classic panna cotta, but agar—a thickener made from seaweed—gives it a light mouthfeel; it dissolves on the tongue almost instantly. Slices of mango in citrus syrup enliven the flavors.

In an intriguing play on the combination of chocolate and chiles, this rich mousse gets its faint tingle from Sichuan peppercorns.

The brown rice in this side dish is full of fiber. (Cooked white has none.)

A Sicilian combination—artichokes and beans—becomes another creative variation on crostini at Cinghiale.

Scallops are rich in iodine, essential to a healthy thyroid and metabolism.

Only use fresh corn in season for this recipe. As soon as corn is harvested, the sugar in the kernel begins to convert to starch and the corn begins to lose its sweetness. To store corn, leave on the husks and store it loosely wrapped in damp paper towels inside a paper bag. Refrigerate and use it within twenty-four hours. My friend, chef Marvin Woods, introduced me to the technique of grating the onion on a box grater instead of finely chopping it. When the onion is grated, it almost melts into the grits, adding a layer of onion flavor without any noticeable onion texture (always present with chopped onion, regardless of how fine the pieces). It also adds a bit more moisture to the grits than chopped onion does.

Since emigrating from Vietnam in the 1970s, Kia Dickinson has been generously sharing her incredible recipes with everyone she meets, including food editor Ian Knauer. This colorful mix of moist poached chicken, cabbage, carrots, and fresh herbs tossed with a wild, tongue-searing dressing is the quintessential summer salad—cool, colorful, and very fresh. When preparing this recipe, Dickinson uses the leftover poaching liquid to make rice.