Meal Prep

The turnips will taste great after just one week in the pickling liquid, but for that full-on saturated pink hue, let them sit for two full weeks.

Miso and hot pepper paste are at the root of every ssam sauce, but no two household's are the same. Tweak it to your liking.

Where a chutney and mustard sauce overlap. Choose a very ripe– even bruised–peach for easy peeling.

This is equally good drizzled over hard-boiled eggs or with crudité for dipping.

The delicate flavor of rice vinegar along with the other Asian ingredients in this vinaigrette is ideal on tender greens like mizuna or mâche

These croutons are very quick to make and are a great crunchy complement to both soups and salads. The bread can either be fresh or a few days old. Warning: They are so yummy they’ll make it hard for you to go back to store-bought croutons! I’ve started doubling the recipe because my husband, Drew, can happily nosh on a whole batch.

This ubiquitous and essential condiment is a bright and spicy mix of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter flavors.

These crisp, fresh pickles are often offered along with fresh herbs at the table. Tuck them into a lettuce-leaf wrapper or use them to doctor brothy soup.

Editor's note: Use this recipe to make Rawia Bishara's Eggplant Napoleon . The first time I ever tasted pesto, I was hooked. I remember the first meal I made using it like it was yesterday—linguini tossed with pesto, topped with fried eggplant and served with fresh home-baked bread. When I use pesto this way, as a sauce, I generally make it with pine nuts. If I'm going to incorporate it into a dish, I use almonds, which are less expensive.

Editor's Note: Use this oil to make Neven Maguire's Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup .

Connie McEvoy, Louth: Retired farmer and craft expert As the eldest of ten, from the age of 12 I would make several cakes of this wheaten bread every Saturday based on my grandmother's recipe. We always mixed it by hand and I still measure it by hand, using four large fistfuls of wholemeal flour and two smaller fistfuls of plain flour.

Some parsnips can have a woody core, which you'll want to cut away before cooking.

This versatile oil is a great way to bring heat to just about any dish.

These lettuce wraps put a fresh, modern spin on a favorite Asian appetizer. Spiced with chili sauce, ginger, and garlic, this dish will leave you craving more!

You can toast nuts in the oven or in a skillet. The toasting time will vary depending on the size of the nuts. Larger nuts, such as walnuts, pecans, or almonds take longer than smaller nuts such as peanuts, pine nuts, or macadamia nuts. Once cool, store them in an airtight container.

This smoky, fiery concoction is inspired by Bar Amá's "Bus Driver" salsa.

Editor's Note: Use this broth to make Andy Ricker's Het Paa Naam Tok (Isaan-style Forest Mushroom Salad) . Flavor Profile: Spicy, slightly bitter and smoky Slowly toasted dried chiles—seeds and all—become a smoky, spicy ingredient that's essential to many recipes in [Pok Pok]. The key is to toast them over low heat until they're thoroughly dry and very dark, coaxing out a deep, tobacco-like flavor that has a bitter edge, but stopping before the pleasant bitterness turns acrid.