5 Ingredients or Fewer

This salad's secret? Combining raw and roasted beets delivers two textures from one ingredient.

Cook the chickpea mixture until it resembles wet concrete; it won't set up if it's undercooked.

My elementary school grapefruit, all grown up. I like the low notes of the dried chiles and rosemary against the sweet-tart citrus.

Preserved lemons add a wonderful salty-sweet hit to these simple potatoes, but if you don't have them on hand, you can use regular lemons instead. Thinly slice the peel of one lemon, then toss with the potatoes before roasting.

Editor's note: Use this recipe to make Chef David Chang's Bo Ssäm. Japanese short-grain white rice is the only rice we make. We, like all restaurants and many home cooks, use a rice cooker to prepare it—it's just that much easier and more reliable than cooking rice on the stove. Here are directions for both methods.

Approach the clafoutis batter as if you're making waffles! It's no more complicated than that. This recipe resonates with me because it is so simple and versatile and, at the same time, elegant. Most often I make a clafoutis in a black cast iron skillet or heavy pie pan because they retain the heat well. You can certainly use individual ramekins, a tart mold, or even a crêpe pan. When you bake a clafoutis, it will puff up like a little soufflé, browned on the edges, but creamy within. I try to serve it immediately, because it will inevitably fall and deflate—but not to worry: This will happen and it's just as delicious anyway. If you understand this basic batter, the sky's the limit: it's a perfect blank canvas for almost any fruit you can think of: from choppable fruits like mango and banana, to cherries preserved in brandy. It's a recipe to draw upon all the year long. Variations follow, but here's the basic batter.

Trout cooked this way is called müllerin, "the miller's wife's" fish, because it's made from filets of mountain trout fished from the stream that powers the flour mill. It is precisely the same preparation and derivation as the French meunière. Don't be fooled by its apparent simplicity: layers of flavor are built by each ingredient in its turn—it is elegant in its simplicity. The trout filets are lightly coated with flour, browned in a pan with good butter, and by the time the fish is cooked, the butter has turned nutty brown and the fish is crisp and tender. Just before serving, a squeeze of lemon and freshly chopped parsley turn the butter in the pan into bubbly foam which is then spooned over each filet.

If you have a fetish for dark chocolate, this will fuel your flame. It will also energize your body with antioxidants that boost blood flow to the brain (and a few other vital organs). Cocoa, kale, and cherries, three beloved and sexy superfoods, contain flavonoids and antioxidants that fight heart disease and diabetes and even promote brain growth.

Pork chops can get pretty dried out. This recipe fixes that age-old problem. It's also a great main course for a family-style dinner. Just slice the pork after it's done cooking, place in a serving dish, and then top with the savory mustard sauce. These pork chops make wonderful leftovers and serve as a nice addition to a breakfast or atop a salad for lunch. Perfect Pork Chops also depend on getting the right pork. Pasture-raised pork will contain a healthier mix of fats and vitamin D. Pork also contains high concentrations of thiamine, which is used by all cells to make energy and is particularly important to the brain, and B6, which helps make several key neurotransmitters.

This is one of the simplest and yet tastiest preparations of eggs I've ever had. One afternoon, a friend and I unexpectedly dropped in on my friend Mario in Trieste. It was lunchtime, and he had a big basket full of fresh eggs he had brought down from the Carso, the high plateau surrounding Trieste. Eggs it was for lunch, served with a bowl of radicchio salad. We were just a few people that day, but this recipe is so very easy to modify for smaller or larger groups.

Step one: Buy tamarind concentrate.
Step two: Make this cocktail.
Step three: Figure out what else you can do with the tamarind.

If you like, after carving the roast, separate the bones into individual ribs and pop them back in the oven to crisp up. Then fight over them with your guests.

The only decorating icing you'll ever need.

It might seem like a long time, but cooking the bacon until it's welldone means it'll stay crisp at the table.

Editor's note: Use this sauce to make Suzanne Goin's Sticky Toffee Pudding with Blood Orange, Tangerine, and Whipped Crème Fraîche . NOTE You can make the toffee sauce ahead of time and warm it up when you are ready to use it.

This garlicky sauce is the traditional accompaniment to the starchy root vegetables of the Hispanic Caribbean, especially Cuba. The acidic medium is usually Seville, or bitter, orange juice, though lime juice or white vinegar can be substituted. The mojo is at its best spooned or brushed over piping-hot boiled yuca, plantains, or other starchy tropical vegetables.

When I was just starting to put some ideas together for recipes that I wanted to be included in this book, I had a conversation about lightened whipped cream with my friend and mentor Maida Heatter. She suggested that I try a recipe of hers called Cream Ooh-La-La, which she uses to top strawberries macerated with sugar and Grand Marnier, in Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever (Random House, 1990). It's basically sweetened whipped cream with the addition of some sour cream and whipped egg whites. I've transformed it a little by substituting reduced-fat sour cream and a cooked meringue. This results in a whipped cream with overtones of crème fraîhe and an exquisite lightness.

This delicious combination provides a mouthful of contrasts—crispy savoury bacon and soft, melting sweet prunes—great served hot or cold. Substitute the prunes with dried apricots for an equally tasty alternative.

Lucy's Whey The grilled cheese sandwich at Lucy's Whey has garnered an extensive group of followers. These devotees appreciate the careful attention that goes into each bite. With so few ingredients, each one should be extraordinary. If you follow this advice at home, you will see how a humble cheese sandwich can turn heads. You can make as many sandwiches at once as you have room for on a panini press (or in a ridged grill pan weighted on top with a skillet).