Ruth Cousineau

Apricots and almonds have an affinity for each other, as you'll discover in this marriage of the stone fruit and a cool semifreddo dotted with crushed almond praline.

Sandwiching meaty black sea bass fillets together with an aromatic filling of red onion and fresh oregano perfumes the fish as it roasts. It tastes—and looks—wonderful topped with a colorful salad of small tomatoes, olives, and more oregano. The peppery, lemony herb, native to the Mediterranean, is a natural with fish.

In the Greek soup known as avgolemono ("ahv-go-LEH-mo-no"), humble ingredients—chicken broth, lemon juice, eggs, a small amount of rice—morph into a light soup with the consistency of liquid velvet. Although avgolemono is traditionally served hot, it's an especially summery starter when chilled and seasoned with lots of dill.

These twice-baked cornmeal crackers—sturdy and delicate all at once—are a great accompaniment to lush avgolemono soup . They're also delicious on their own or with cocktails.

Full of garden vegetables and pasta, this soup relies on a bright basil-and-parsley-based sauce (the pistou) for a last-minute explosion of herbal flavor.

No need to call your local pizza joint. Thanks to prepared dough and bottled roasted red peppers, making your own calzones can be easy and far more satisfying.

Walnuts are commonly paired with whole wheat, but something pretty great happens when you team them up with tangy rye and bits of sweet sautéed onion instead. A batch of these is especially tasty alongside a platter of your favorite cheeses.

Sweet butternut squash teams up with earthy red lentils to make this simple and satisfying vegetarian dinner.

Tortilla soup is all about contrasting textures, but its real success hinges on a fabulous broth—in this case, homemade chicken stock enriched with a cooked purée of chiles, tomatoes, onion, and garlic.

Elegant and deliciously buttery, these golden fantails are an obvious choice for entertaining. Their shape resembles a blooming flower, with each petal forming a perfect pull-apart bite. But don’t worry—they are surprisingly straightforward to put together in a muffin pan.

The technique for shaping this sculptural loaf is very simple, but the result is dramatic. Once baked, the bread resembles a towering cornstalk, and each roll, or "ear of corn," is torn off the stalk by guests. But it's not just the presentation that makes these rolls worth the effort—they've got the hearty exterior of a French baguette, plus a yeasty, slightly chewy interior.

Classic shape plus not-so-classic flavors gives these rolls an element of surprise. That’s not to say the wintry blend of pumpkin and orange is overpowering; it’s actually very subtle, so the rolls go with just about anything you put on the dinner table. Leftovers would be awfully good slathered with butter and toasted for breakfast.

The North African hot sauce called harissa lends this soup its beautiful brick-red color, as well as a deep, spicy warmth that isn’t the least bit aggressive. For a supper that’s both robust and rejuvenating, chard, chickpeas, and noodles go into the pot, too.

This soup has many layers in its complexity, but the overall effect is of cleanness and freshness. An optional addition of jasmine rice makes a heartier meal.

Latin-food authority Maricel Presilla describes sofrito—the sautéed mix of aromatic vegetables that is the bedrock of this vegetarian soup—as the DNA of the Latin kitchen because it carries a basic flavor code. There's onion and garlic, to be sure, but also tomatoes and various herbs, spices, and chiles, depending on the region. For this red-bean soup, we were inspired specifically by Puerto Rico, as evidenced by recao (an herb similar to cilantro) and by chiles that are fruity rather than hot. Just for fun, we included a last-minute sprinkling of Italian gremolata for brightness.

There really isn't a lot of work involved in making chicken stock—you pretty much drop everything into a pot of water and let it simmer. What you do need, though, is time and patience to let the chicken, vegetables, and herbs transform the water into a golden, savory liquid that will make all the difference in soups and sauces.

Inspired by Vietnamese pho (pronounced "fuh"), this soup creates its own broth as meaty short ribs and beef shank simmer with ginger, garlic, chile, and the sweet spice of star anise and cinnamon—supermarket ingredients that come together with slippery rice noodles to produce a wonderfully fragrant and authentic-tasting dish. It’s a great choice for a party, because everyone gets to customize their bowl to their own taste with a spritz of lime, some fiery Sriracha sauce and sweet hoisin, and a scattering of mint and cucumber.

Who knew rolls could be so, well, adorable? But of course looks aren’t everything: They’ve got substance, too, with a satisfyingly salty crust—flaky sea salt has fantastic texture—embracing an enjoyably chewy, pretzel-like interior.