Dairy

Spicy-sweet cardamom is a perfect complement to bitter coffee, and baked phyllo pieces add carby crunch without an overload of calories.

It's peak peach season, so what better excuse to whip up this lowfat treat? Goes great over warm peach cobbler, too. Just sayin'.

Green Goddess Dressing is a perfect example of the magic of anchovies—they amplify and deepen the herbal flavors in this sauce without ever announcing their presence. For more recipes and tips, see our Homemade Salad Dressing Primer.

After a full day of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, these atayef are a welcome treat. Like all traditional foods associated with special holidays, somehow they taste best at the right time. But that shouldn't stop you from making these unforgettable moreish sweets at anytime of year. And by moreish I also mean Moorish, with a flavor and fragrance that is exotic, complex, and evocative of a culture that goes back to ancient times. These are divine.

Cooked gently over a low heat, lamb shank becomes meltingly tender—perfect for an elegant, restorative broth.

This is a winning-contestant recipe from Season Four of FOX's MasterChef.

Rich in protein, essential fatty acids and fiber, chia seeds are harvested from Salvia hispanica, a herbaceous plant native to central Mexico that was as an important food source of the Mayans and Aztecs.

This yogurt mousse is an exercise in nostalgia for me, evocative of two different memories. The first is recent: cold lassi spiked with cardamom, a favorite drink at Indian restaurants. The musky flavor of cardamom just plays well with the tangy, refreshing taste of yogurt. And so does honey, which brings me to my second memory. My mother often served me and my siblings big bowls of plain yogurt with honey swirled in—it was a favorite summer lunch. I remember how the honey laced the yogurt in thick ropes of sweetness. This is a plain yet comforting dish, the two flavors marrying perfectly. I bring these three tastes together here in this dish, and finish it all off with fresh summer apricots. Top the finished mousse with apricot slices, or get fancy and pipe the chilled, set mousse into apricot halves and garnish with mint.

Ripe peaches can be used in place of the nectarines; choose whatever looks (and smells) best.

When it comes to buying feta, you've got choices. We love the firm texture and sheep's-milk tang of Bulgarian or Greek.

"A crunchy, cheesy topping gives squash big flavor and texture." —Chris Morocco, associate food editor

With tongue in cheek, I call this chicken "unfried." That's because I am well known for fried chicken, which may be the crown jewel of southern cooking but is a dish I avoid these days. I like unfried chicken just as much. The chicken is soaked in tangy buttermilk and then coated with flavorful breading, just like fried chicken. The difference is that it's baked. This dish was on the menu at LYFE Kitchen. I first prepared it when Oprah's movie Beloved opened. One of the many lessons I learned from Oprah is to offer people a choice at meals, and one of those choices should be a healthy one. To this day I honor that lesson in my home and my restaurants.

Believe it or not, watermelon and feta make a great pairing. Toss in some hot chili peppers and cilantro and you have a salad to delight everyone who tries it. Buy seedless watermelon for this—you won't be disappointed when you try it!

Twelve years ago, I made a simple bowl of "strawberries pazzo"—pazzo means "crazy" in Italian — for my friend Ann Spivack (this book's co-writer). The combination of strawberries, balsamic vinegar, and black pepper has been part of my repertoire for decades. Ann thanked me by baking me this pazzo cake. This dessert—while easy to make—is a cut above a standard strawberry shortcake. The cake batter is very forgiving and comes out well when baked on your grill or in your oven. Bake this in a standard 8-by-8-inch baking pan in your oven; if baking inside a covered grill, pour the batter into a cast-iron skillet, enameled cast-iron baking dish, or Dutch oven. The key to the herbed crème fraîche is a light touch with the fresh herbs. You don't want to overwhelm the cake. We used rosemary but small tender basil leaves are delicious too. We dressed up this cake for our Harvest Dinner by drizzling on a balsamic glaze, spooning Roasted Strawberries onto the plate, and finishing with an herbed crème fraîche. You can serve all three with the cake, any one of them, or forget all three of them and just serve the cake simply with a light dusting of confectioners' sugar.

These light and airy biscuits owe their texture to three leavenings: yeast, baking soda, and baking powder.

Burrata is a type of fresh mozzarella with an oozy, creamy center (its name refers to this buttery filling). Let it come to room temperature before serving.

Brined birds taste better. Here's our all-purpose buttermilk-based recipe, along with four souped-up variations.

Feel free to experiment with other seasonings besides sumac, like lemon zest, za'atar, or crushed red pepper flakes.

The secret to homemade brittle? Work fast—it hardens quickly.

We upped the creaminess factor but not the fat by mixing feta with nonfat yogurt.