Crab

Executive chef Michael Psilakis, at Dona in New York City, recommends piling leftovers of this dish over greens for an easy next-day salad.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Feast: Food to Celebrate Life, by Nigella Lawson. While I love a shrimp cocktail, this I think has a slight, elegant edge. The hot, green mustardy horseradish, the wasabi paste, is not so hard to find these days but you could always substitute a small dollop of Colman's English mustard in its place I suppose. Similarly, you could shred some little Boston lettuce should you have difficulty locating the Chinese leaves.

Editor's note: This recipe is from Ming Tsai's book, Ming's Master Recipes.

Dallas chef Kent Rathbun created this recipe for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program. It makes an elegant first course for Thanksgiving dinner.

This layered salad is definitely stacked: Michael Taus, executive chef and owner of Zealous restaurant in Chicago, has piled in all the vitamins C and B12 you need for the day, as well as 50 percent of your daily requirement for vitamin A.

Chef Kerry Simon (celebrity fans at his showy Las Vegas restaurant, Simon Kitchen and Bar, include Kate Hudson and Lucy Liu) is bringing his simple, organic American cuisine closer to the stars with the planned opening of Simon LA at the Sofitel Hotel this month. This succulent salad provides vitamins, including A, C and folate, among others, plus some zinc from the hearts of palm and juicy ruby red grapefruit.

Look for ancho chile powder in the spice section of supermarkets.

Delicate crabmeat gives sweetness to a light citrus sauce served on top of pasta.

Indulgence on a platter: Lobster, shrimp, scallops, and crab legs make one impressive presentation. (Ask the market to cut the lobster tails and crab legs in half lengthwise for you.) A selection of sauces adds to the party fun.

Fatty pork is the standout ingredient in these crisp spring rolls; it adds intense flavor and a tender texture to the crab and vegetable filling. Fresh ginger and a generous amount of cilantro add kick.

Editor's note: The recipe below is excerpted from Eggs by Michel Roux. To read more about the book, click here. For optimum flavor, use the meat from a freshly cooked live crab.

Recipe from the kitchen of Felicia Gray, age 12 Many crab dip recipes call for imitation crabmeat, but there's no place for "krab" here. Only real lump crabmeat makes it taste best. Serve it while it's hot with crackers, bite-size pieces of bread, or veggie sticks. It can also be presented in a bread bowl and served with a tray of fresh broccoli, carrots, zucchini, or crackers.

While I love a shrimp cocktail, this I think has a slight, elegant edge. The hot, green mustardy horseradish, the wasabi paste, is not so hard to find these days but you could always substitute a small dollop of Colman's English mustard in its place I suppose. Similarly, you could shred some little Boston lettuce should you have difficulty locating the Chinese leaves.

This crab dish is as much of a treat as digging in to a good book: It's adapted from a scene in the novel The Hours and featured in The Book Club Cookbook (Tarcher/Putnam), which pairs recipes with great reads. The casserole offers lean protein and doses of vitamin A and folate. Plus, Self substituted soymilk for cream and replaced butter with olive oil, giving this storybook recipe a healthy ending.

A simple dish from England's linguine genie, Nigella Lawson Like the rest of us, Nigella Lawson is ready for winter to be over. Her new book, Forever Summer (Hyperion), out next month, is full of recipes that scream summer. Crab, the star of this meal, costs less than lobster and has more zinc (which helps repair tissue in the body). Plus, the dish is quick, leaving more time to slather on the Self-tanner.

Welcome to Baltimore, where crab cakes rule. This seafood fave has nutritional potential: Crab provides calcium, B vitamins, and iron. But the traditional version, made with mayo and fried in lots of oil, is too fatty to qualify as healthy fare. We cut the fat by more than half and lost 130 calories per serving with simple changes: using egg whites instead of whole eggs; subbing light mayo for the full-fat version; and going easy on oil.

In Trinidad and Tobago, crabs are traditionally cooked whole and the meat picked out. This sophisticated dish combines American-style crab cakes with the island flavor of callaloo, a green stew that's the national dish of Trinidad. Here, the stew becomes a sauce, creating an elegant starter or light lunch.

What to drink: Try these with a lightly chilled Oregon Pinot Gris.