Ian Knauer

This gratin is more elegant than your usual broccoli and cheese casserole, thanks to a custardy base and plenty of parmesan.

Gajar halva is a luxurious Indian dessert made from carrots slowly cooked down with sweetened milk and spices. This version is fast enough for weeknights and brings the warmth of the Indian sun to mind.

Green apple and a dash of cider vinegar provide just the right amount of tart balance in this slightly sweet, down-home soup topped with homemade bacon bits.

Roasting already-roasted cashews seems counterintuitive, but it deepens their rich flavor as the green beans cook alongside.

Mild tilapia takes beautifully to a robust, smoky cilantro-chipotle sauce.

Juicy pineapple meets creamy avocado, crisp jicama, and red onion in a refreshing salad that goes especially well with the cilantro-chipotle tilapia .

Cutting up a whole chicken is both economical and easy. (For a video of food editor Ian Knauer cutting up a chicken, visit gourmet.com.) Here, the pieces are simply tossed with spices and sweet onion before going into the oven.

Lean turkey cutlets benefit from a slightly sweet Marsala wine sauce and the twofold richness of prosciutto and Italian Fontina.

If you live near a deeply rooted Italian community, chances are you have easy access to great fresh mozzarella. If that's not the case, though, it's time to channel your inner artisanal cheesemaker. You'll find that the pure, clean flavor of homemade mozzarella is a revelation, as is the cheese's tender, almost flaky, pull-apart texture. Time, patience, and careful attention to detail are the keys to success.

In this quick version of a common Puglian dish, pungent garlic and spicy red-pepper flakes turn frozen broccoli into a perfect partner for ear-shaped pasta.

No need to open a bottle of white wine for the few tablespoons you'd require: Lemon brightens up this easy risotto.

Hake, like cod, is mild in flavor yet meaty in texture. Here, it embraces the crunch of sautéed hazelnuts, whose richness is offset by fresh parsley and briny capers.

With all the amazing fresh produce available at this time of year, we always find ourselves facing the same dilemma: Which delicious, sun-warmed vegetable shall we choose tonight? But when food editor Ian Knauer threw the whole farm stand into a cornmeal crust, it took us only one bite to realize that he had solved the problem once and for all.

Regardless of your foraging skills, you can experience the abundance of the woods with these delectable parcels, which combine the nutty chew of bulgur with rich toasted pine nuts, sweet currants, and smoky trout that could have come from a nearby brook—all neatly wrapped up in a lettuce leaf. And because they're so portable, you can easily enjoy them outdoors on a picnic blanket.

You might run across purslane, with its glossy, plump leaves, at a farmers market—and you might even find it growing in the cracks of your sidewalk or in your yard. Luckily, this incredibly nutritious and juicy green is a weed, which means it pops up wild nearly everywhere. Lots of chopped parsley and a simple vinaigrette flatter its herbal, lemony crunch.

As a wake-up call to his taste buds, food editor Ian Knauer adds a dollop of this vibrant, garlicky hot sauce to his egg sandwich (it often finds its way onto his lunch and dinner plates, too). Its versatility is the key—any variety or combination of chiles will produce a different yet full-flavored, lip-tingling sauce.

You can tell this recipe hails from a tropical environment because of the way the first bite of chiles causes a light sweat to break out on your brow. Then a breeze blows by, and— ahh—you're instantly cooled off and refreshed, able to fully enjoy the sweetness of plump shrimp and an evolving harmony of spices.

A perfect introduction to the allure of chiles, this Italian classic balances the cherry peppers' piquancy with roasted bell peppers, lemon, and parsley. It's a bright, summery dish that you'll hanker for all year long.

The combination of condensed milk and lime gives this dessert a bit of tropical flair.

Simmering the cobs lends depth to a cool essence-of-corn soup, enhanced with a swirl of sour cream and a sprinkling of chives.