Russet Potato

Lentils and fresh and dried mushrooms give this vegetarian casserole its meaty character. You can prepare most of it in advance and bake it just before your guests arrive.

Our dad makes these every year on Hanukkah. And he makes a huge mess. He puts newspapers on the floor, uses every burner, and the whole house smells bad for a week. But they are super delicious and we had to include them in our book. We make them almost every weekend. We had our dad test the recipe.

The secret to great French fries is to fry them twice: once at a lower temperature to cook the potato through, then again at a higher temperature to brown them. We're also giving you five reasons to leave the ketchup in the fridge, with homemade dipping-sauce recipes for Sour Cream and Onion Dip , Saffron Mayonnaise , Ginger-Sesame Sauce , Roasted Red Pepper–Walnut Dip , and Chipotle-Tomatillo Sauce . Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Burger Bash. Menu also includes Bacon-Cheddar Burgers with Caramelized Onions and Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Italian classics, check out the videos.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Italian classics, check out the videos.

This simple variation of a traditional dish is great as a side dish or on its own.

{like his mother made} Rösti or hash browns done well are potatoes perfected. I learned this from my husband's mother in Hungary, but you'll find similar versions that are the pride of many a mother and a young bride in homes all over Central Europe. In our home, few things raise bigger enthusiasm than the smell of rösti cooking when András walks through the door. You'll love them for brunch or dinner, or a whole meal {vegetarians take note} with a poached egg and chopped herbs. Add in rosemary and you've got a really heady, flavorful substitute for French fries with your steak dinner. They key to a crispy outside and soft inside not laden with oil is to get the oil very hot before you add the potatoes, in which case they will absorb very little of it and leave nothing but flavor and crunch for you to devour the instant it hits the plate.

Miso is a quick way to add deep, rich savory character to your cooking.

The success of this simple soup depends on using the freshest watercress available. Choose the full-grown, thick-stemmed variety; it has more of the green's characteristic bold, peppery flavor.

I happen to love gnocchi; they’re like little pillows in your mouth, and very, very comforting. Although you can get them at any grocery store these days, when I have some time, I still enjoy making them at home.

Vegetables, of course, make healthy snacks, and are especially appetizing when served with flavorful dips. Yellow split peas are the protein-rich basis of one spread; tarama—cured carp or cod roe, used in Greek and Turkish cooking—flavors the other. The roe is soaked in water to remove much of its saltiness, then squeezed of excess moisture. Look for tarama at specialty food stores. Serve dips with crudités and toasted baguette or whole-grain bread slices.

The hearty flavor of these dumplings lends itself to a range of preparations. Tossing with basil pesto is perhaps the most common, but gnocchi can also be served with brown butter and sage or doused in a hearty ragù, like Bolognese Sauce (page 383).

The secret to perfect fries—crisp on the outside and soft within—is to “fry” them twice, first to cook through, then to crisp and color. The first step is called blanching rather than deep-frying, since the temperature of the oil (300°F) is sufficient to soften, but not brown. (If you tried to cook them at a high temperature the whole time, the outsides would burn before the insides were cooked through.) The second step involves true deep-frying: the oil is brought up to 350°F—hot enough to quickly brown the outside without needing to cook the interior further. As with the sautéed rosti (page 329), the potatoes are soaked in water before cooking to remove excess starch, then dried thoroughly. Whenever deep-frying, remember that the oil should be maintained at the proper temperature, so you will need to adjust the heat as necessary. Unless you have a deep-fryer, use a cast-iron pot; it holds its heat better and distributes heat more evenly than other types. Also, frying can leave oil marks on stainless steel and other surfaces that are difficult to clean. To keep the temperature from dropping too much, add potatoes in batches; this will also ensure that they fry evenly and quickly. If the temperature spikes at any time, cool down the oil by adding some room-temperature oil to the pot. Be sure to salt the fries immediately after removing from the oil, when they are still piping hot. Any other seasonings (such as the lemon zest and rosemary below) are purely optional. Homemade mayonnaise (page 95) is an indulgent option for dipping. Or drizzle with malt vinegar for a tangy taste.

Rosti is a favorite Swiss potato dish made with grated potatoes and, depending on the cooking technique (deep-frying, pan-frying or even baking), butter, oil, or a combination. It can be formed into one large cake, as in the recipe below, or shaped into smaller patties. The ideal rosti is crisp and light.

Curry paste, the flavor base for many Indian stews, often begins with a puree of onion, garlic, and ginger, which is sautéed with spice blends (masalas) until golden brown and caramelized. There are countless varieties of curry pastes in Indian cooking, and the one in this recipe is among the most basic and traditional. The spice blends used in Indian curries are first either toasted in a dry pan or sautéed in oil; in both methods, the heat stimulates the oils in the spices—you’ll know they are ready when they are fragrant (keep a very close eye on them, to prevent burning). Once you’ve mastered the technique, you can make a variety of curries using fish, shrimp, beef, lamb, goat, or one or more vegetables, such as cauliflower or peas and potatoes.

Perhaps the best known cold pureed soup, vichyssoise is a simple puree of potato and leeks that is traditionally enriched with cream; adding a bit of buttermilk along with the cream gives this version a pleasant tangy flavor. Here, leeks serve as both an aromatic, replacing the onion, as well as one of the base vegetables. Garlic is typically not used. The amount of stock or water called for is also reduced, since both cream and buttermilk are added. If making the soup for company, buy an extra leek to prepare the Leek Frisée (page 75) for the garnish.

The onion can be substituted with one leek or two large shallots (this is true for the variations, too) and the spinach with other leafy greens, such as chard, kale, watercress, or sorrel. For a soup with brighter color, the leafy greens are added in the last five minutes of cooking, just so they are given a chance to wilt.

When people talk about good gnocchi, you always hear about how “light” they are, but I find that just because gnocchi are light doesn’t mean they’re good. More often than not, gnocchi taste and feel to me like boiled mashed potatoes or mushy dumplings. It wasn’t until I had good gnocchi, which, in addition to being light, had some texture and springiness to them, that I realized how good they could be. Matt worked really hard to ensure that our gnocchi had those qualities. This dough is very starchy and sensitive, so the gnocchi must be formed and served the same day the dough is made. You must use russet potatoes.

Mantecato means “churned,” and bacalà mantecato, essentially an Italian version of French brandade, is salt cod potato purée. We started making these crostini to use the salt cod we had left from the Bacalà al Forno (page 215) at the Pizzeria. It’s so popular that we now make extra salt cod for this dish.