Make Ahead

Easier to make than the beef version, chicken pho requires fewer ingredients and takes less finesse for superlative results.

How to prevent tofu from being bland? Toss it in a robust, spicy, salty, and deeply seasoned marinade.

Snow peas and water chestnuts add a fresh crunch to these tasty dumplings

A tangy dish full of zing. The thyme adds deep flavour and the roasties give real crunch.

Serve this lightly spiced, last-minute bean dip with tortilla chips and watch it disappear before half-time.

This rum-spiked hot toddy is infused with fiery black pepper, revitalizing cinnamon, and cleansing cardamom to cure the winter blues.

This 22-minute South Indian-inspired chicken dinner is based on takeout versions served at Manhattan's Curry Row. 

This classic Japanese soup is both nourishing and comforting—just the thing for those midwinter blues.

Spicy, honey-glazed figs and creamy goat cheese are baked in puff pastry in this fun vegetarian play on pigs-in-a-blanket.

Complete your Super Bowl snacking lineup with this addictive five-cheese version of the classic Southern spread.

These cumin-spiced chicken thighs and roasted potatoes are balanced by a zippy, jalapeño-spiked alternative to coleslaw.

A whole chicken, poached in a ginger and anise–scented soy broth, is a popular dish served at Chinese New Year celebrations.

Onions, garlic, cabbage, and tomatoes melt into a thick rich blanket of sweet richness for these hearty baked beans.

Rich with nutty tahini, savory miso, and plenty ginger and garlic, this comforting vegetarian soup is just what the doctor ordered for a chilly weeknight.

I love the classic combination of beef, potato, and carrot cooked in a saucy, slightly sweet curry and ladled next to white rice. You can use whatever meat and vegetables you want, but for me, curry has two unbreakable rules: First, make sure that meat is nice and fatty. Second, embrace the premade blocks of Japanese curry roux. Curry is not health food, but neither are the deep-fried pork cutlets called tonkatsu, and I’m not planning to give those up either, no matter what my wife says!

Packed with a creamy cashew spread and plenty of hearty mushrooms, this rich, vegan dish will win over even the most passionate meat eaters.

Loaded potato soup served up with shredded cheese, chives, and bacon is very much a representation of my fused German, Scandinavian, British, and Irish family ancestry. I wanted to make this a new family tradition, with a Japanese spin utilizing purple potatoes, that I could enjoy tummy ache–free. Blending antioxidant-rich purple sweet potatoes with coconut milk makes this soup creamy, rich, and tasty without adding tons of extra fat, sugar, or heavy cream. The roasted salty mushrooms are a perfect replacement for bacon—drizzled with some olive oil, this combination makes for one satisfying soup.

The zest of a lemon or other citrus fruit is the outermost, colored skin that contains flavorful oils. Use a grater to take off just the colored part, not the white pith. Thoroughly washed organic oranges, lemons, or limes should be used for zesting. Dried, grated orange or lemon zest is also available in the spice section of most stores.

Chickpeas are the basis for this savory Italian stew, which gets an extra kick from a spoonful of intensely flavored pesto at serving time.

Don’t just reserve black-eyed peas for New Year’s luck. The combination of sweet, smoky and hot and the freshness of the greens is delicious any time of the year.