Oregano

Eggplant came to Europe from India sometime around the eighth century, possibly with seeds carried by Jewish merchants. Often called the Jew’s apple, the eggplant has played an important role in Jewish cooking since early times. The old recipes found in the Vaucluse, such as the Ladino almodrote de berenjenas, are present today throughout the Sephardic world in the Mediterranean. Although the eggplant is sometimes sautéed in this dish, I prefer roasting it over a fire to bring out the smoky flavor, and then chopping it into chunks with two knives, a technique I learned from Sephardic French cooks. You can also roast the eggplant in an oven then pulse it in the food processor. With the increasing number of vegetarians even in France, this dish is becoming very popular, “modernized” with pesto, crème fraîche, or anchovies, or covered with tomato sauce. A purist, I like to serve it the old way—simply, with a salad.

Although this is not a pickle, I am including the recipe because it is a very useful sauce to have at hand when required, and it can be prepared in advance and stored in jars. It keeps for months if the surface remains covered with a film of oil.

This easy pickle makes a ready delicious mezze.

There is something very comforting about this homely Turkish pilaf in which the rice is cooked in the broth of the chicken. For an Arab version with pine nuts, flavored with cinnamon and cardamom, see the variation.

I’ve tried this pizza with frozen and fresh spinach, and while the former isn’t bad, fresh spinach makes it a delicacy. Complete the meal with one of the smoothies on pages 245 to 246 and a bountiful tossed salad.

This traditional Thai-style soup is my personal favorite. I love coconuts, and this soup is all about the coco. I like to use different ages of coconut meat to get varied textures. A more mature nut makes a chunky soup, while a younger one makes a creamy soup. I also like to use a variety of hot peppers: jalapeño, serrano, and even the super-spicy Thai chile, just to get a wide range of spiciness. Some peppers are hot as you eat them, others after you eat them; my favorites are hot only when you stop eating them.

Also known as fajita steak. It might look like a weight lifter's belt, but skirt steak is juicy and delicious. With a flavor-to-cost ratio that works strongly in your favor, this thin cut cooks quickly for an impromptu BBQ. Buy one 1 1/2 pound skirt steak (about 1/2" thick) and cut it in half crosswise.

Editor's note: Chef, nutritionist, and cooking teacher Lourdes Castro shared this recipe from her cookbook, Latin Grilling. It's a classic Cuban dish and the centerpiece of a festive party menu she created for Epicurious. If you have leftover pork, Castro recommends making Grilled Cuban Sandwiches . Cubans love their pork. It's hard to find a Cuban or Cuban-American who doesn't have a memory of spending hours waiting for a lechon, a whole pig, to finish cooking in someone's backyard, and then sharing it with family and friends (I am certainly no exception). What sets Cuban-style pork apart is the use of mojo criollo, a highly seasoned marinade made up of tangy citrus juice, vast amounts of garlic, cumin, and oregano. And while roasting a whole pig is deliciously fun, smaller cuts are far more manageable and easier to work with.

Before making this dish, call your fish market. Octopus is available at some markets, but it may need to be ordered several days ahead.

Serve the lamb with your favorite tzatziki (cucumber and yogurt sauce) and horta (sautéed greens tossed with red wine vinegar and honey).

Thick, herby chimichurri is a great sauce to add to your cooking repertoire. Serve it with grilled meats or sausages, toss it with roasted potatoes, brush it on bread before grilling, or pair it with fried eggs.

Home turf: New Mexico
Local flavor: Southwestern-style chili is all about the chiles (with an "e"), as in this pillar of regional cooking, chile verde. The chiles are green and mild (New Mexico's famous hatch chiles are perfect), and the meat is pork. Tangy tomatillos balance the chiles and coat the slow-cooked pork. To up the regional cred, serve it "Christmas" style—with a combo of green and red chiles.
Make it a meal: Serve with warm corn tortillas, avocado and spinach salad with honey-lime vinaigrette, and a dark beer like Negra Modelo (Mexico, $8 per six-pack). If you can find it, use dried Mexican oregano in this recipe. It has a smoky flavor that dried Mediterranean oregano doesn't have. Look for it at Latin markets.

If you've never tried drying your own tomatoes, you're missing out. The drying process condenses all the tomato sweetness into a savory and chewy piece of heaven. Those store-bought leathery things are good, but your own will be a million times better. All that olive oil makes canning for long-term storage unsafe, but they're so good they never seem to sit around long enough anyway. I like to eat them piled on toast with a fresh basil leaf and slivers of good Parmesan cheese. You'll find your own way to enjoy them soon enough.

The herb-and-spice blend would also be terrific with eggplant or lamb.

The technique: Rub the bird with an herbal, citrusy salt mixture and let it chill overnight. As the turkey sits, the salt draws moisture to the skin. During roasting, the flavorful liquid seasons the meat and keeps it moist.
The payoff: A superjuicy bird with crisp, browned skin.

The technique: Whole-animal eating is trendy, but using all parts of the bird is nothing new when it comes to gravy. Giblets (the heart, liver, gizzard, and neck) really deepen a gravy's flavor. We recommend using only the neck, heart, and gizzard to make the gravy. The flavor of the liver can overwhelm the rest of the ingredients.
The payoff: You haven't wasted a thing, and you’ve added an earthy dimension to your gravy.

The sweetness of the tomatoes and the fennel is balanced by the savory, starchy beans.

Cut into rings and tentacles and deep fried, squid have claimed a top spot on restaurant appetizer menus as calamari. But why go out for calamari when you can grill them at home? Whole, marinated squid, done to a turn on your grill, can transform your backyard into a tapas bar. Just stir up a pitcher of sangria or chill a bottle of fino sherry, and you're good to go. The technique you use for grilling squid is the same as for whole baby octopus or cut-up octopus tentacles. You want to marinate them first to imbue them with flavor. Squid and octopus are not as delicate as fish, so you can marinate them longer—ideally, for 3 to 4 hours. Then, grill them quickly on an oiled, perforated grill rack (so they don't fall through the grill grates) over a hot fire; that way, they crisp up without getting rubbery.

Olivada, an Italian olive spread, adds flavor and color to this side dish.