Rosemary

Infuse lemony, garlicky chicken with even more flavor by basting it with rosemary branches dipped in olive oil.

Red O bartender Steve Calabro was inspired by chef Rick Bayless's fresh, ingredient-driven style to create this bright summer drink. After testing an early version, Bayless grated lime zest into the Margarita, Calabro added a red orchid to the glass, and they pronounced it finished.

Fresh herbs abound here—as does niacin, an energizing B vitamin: One serving of salmon dishes up nearly 70 percent of your daily niacin needs.

Look for potatoes of similar diameter so that they line up easily when stacked. You should be able to get 3 to 4 slices from the Yukon Gold and red potatoes and 5 to 6 slices from each sweet potato. To make these stacks hot and spicy, add cayenne pepper to the barbecue spice blend. You can also slice an onion into very thin rings, coat with the same spices and roast alongside the potatoes. Insert a roasted onion slice between each potato slice.
Parve
Non-gebrokts

This aphrodisiac-laden mocktail comes from NYC's Museum of Sex and is a perfect way to set the mood on Valentine's Day. The recipe makes enough rose elixir and rosemary crystals for eight drinks; if you're making only two, refrigerate the remaining elixir and store the crystals in an airtight container at room temperature (both will last up to two weeks). If you're short on time, skip the rosemary crystals and use just the superfine sugar instead. To make the Shanghai Rose alcoholic, add two ounces of gin or vodka to each drink.

A whole side of salmon makes for a light, delicious—and impressive—main course.

Any food historian will tell you that trying to track down the origin of a recipe is like chasing tadpoles. There are so many, and they all look alike. Even when you find what seems to be the original source, you can't necessarily believe it because adapting recipes is an age—old industry. Nonetheless, I thought I'd give the hunt a try with chicken Canzanese, an unusual recipe that ran in the Times in 1969. A Google search for "chicken Canzanese" yielded many results, a number of them facsimiles, or slight variations of the chicken dish that appeared in the Times. There's one on Cooks.com that's a close adaptation of the Times's recipe, another by Mario Batali on the Food Network's website and one by Anna Teresa Callen, the cookbook author and teacher, on her own website. Batali's and Callen's, which vary only slightly from the Times's recipe, are nearly word for word the same. Only one recipe that I found sourced the Times's recipe, which itself came from Ed Giobbi, a cookbook author, and was written about by Craig Claiborne. You can also find plenty of turkey recipes done in the style of Canzanese (Canzano is in the Abruzzo region in Italy), which refers to braised turkey, served cold with chopped turkey aspic. But chicken Canzanese, which is not mentioned in important Italian cookbooks like Le Ricette Regionali Italiane (Italian Regional Cooking), is completely different. When you make it, you understand why it's still kicking around after all these decades. After flash-brining the chicken, you throw everything into the pan at the same time—chicken, cubed prosciutto, sage, bay leaves, rosemary, garlic, chile, cloves, peppercorns, and wine—and end up with a dish that has the fragrance of Chinese steamed duck and the succulence of a Bolognese sauce. I sensed that it would be impossible to come to a conclusion about where chicken Canzanese originated (Giobbi's recipe was the earliest I could find), and this was confirmed as soon as I started calling people. Callen said she grew up in Abruzzo eating chicken Canzanese. Batali, who regularly credits people from whom he adapts recipes, said that he must have gotten his from Callen, and was apologetic about the borrowing. Giobbi, whose recipe came from a family friend in Abruzzo, suggested that perhaps Callen was influenced by him. When I asked Callen if there was any chance she referred to Giobbi's recipe when writing about her family's dish, she said, "Could be, very well." I didn't intend this to be an investigation—recipes are adapted all the time, it's one of the primary ways cuisines evolve—so I did not chase down the dozens of sites that appear to have copied Callen or Batali. One thing is clear, though: a good recipe has a thousand fathers, but a bad one is an orphan.

Because the veal shanks are so impressive, Lidia likes to bring the veal (still on the bone) to the table for guests to admire. She then takes the meat back into the kitchen, carves it, and serves it family-style.

My friend Myriam Richard-Delorme in Paris is a great cook and she gave me this recipe. All you do is put a leg of lamb in a roasting pan with lots of cut-up tomatoes, onions, garlic, rosemary—and then pour honey over it to caramelize the lamb and tomatoes while they roast. Everything cooks in one pan and a few hours later I have the most succulent roast lamb, plus the tomatoes and pan juices become the vegetable and the sauce. OMG is it fabulous!

I'm pretty much a purist when it comes to martinis. I can't bring myself to imagine what's involved with Martini: The Game, a cards–and–dice game that makes each player a bartender working to whip up cocktail creations. My version of that game would be pretty boring: a bunch of gin cards, the occasional dry vermouth card, and a die that just says "olive" or "twist" on all sides. Not a fun game, but these ingredients do make a superior cocktail in my opinion! So I'm not big on martini variations, but this one minor twist on the classic martini simply adds a bit more herbal and savory character to the aromatics already present in the gin—a little more depth of character without going overboard. This cocktail will be best with a London dry–style gin. Some newer and small–batch gins—much as I love them—can have distinctive character that may or may not meld well with the rosemary. To ensure that the olives take on some of that savory rosemary flavor, they should soak for at least a day before mixing the martinis.

Roasting the tomatoes concentrates their flavor.

At John J. Jeffries, the chicken is served with seasonal heirloom tomatoes, arugula, and watercress. Ask the butcher to quarter the chicken and remove the backbone. Start preparing the recipe at least seven hours ahead.

Lemon peel and lemon juice, rosemary, and an olive oil dressing give this a nice lightness. If you prefer a creamy potato salad, use 2/3 cup mayonnaise in place of the olive oil.

If the cutlets are thicker than 1/3 inch, slip them into a heavy-duty resealable plastic bag, and pound them with a mallet.

What makes this beautiful appetizer even more attractive? Both of the salsas and the toasted baguette slices can be prepared one day ahead.

A combination of green olives, garlic, rosemary, and orange peel is tucked beneath the skin of the chicken breasts before they go on the grill. Be sure to remind guests to squeeze a grilled orange wedge over the chicken just before eating.