Meal Prep

These buns can be assembled the night before, needing only a final rise before baking.

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.

Chicken wings also work well here. Use 3 pounds, and skip the rice flour and cornstarch coating.

Ben Clemons, bartender at Bar 308 in Nashville, created this sage- and lime-infused cocktail for our story, Spring Cocktails Perfect for Brunch. Cocchi Aperitivo Americano is an Italian aperitif wine beloved for its citrus, herbal, and bitter flavor profile. It's becoming easier to find, but if you can't locate a bottle, Clemons recommends substituting Lillet Blanc.

Serve these sweet and savory potatoes as a side dish for pork or duck, or as a main course with a salad on the side.

Quivering cranberry slices that melt into the meat and slowly caramelize give this brisket its lovely character. Even better, it takes so little effort for this sweet alchemy to work. Roberta Greenberg, the long-time assistant to the rabbis at this well-known New York City synagogue and the keeper of this recipe, suggests reducing the sauce on the stove after reheating it if you prefer it thicker. It is good enough to make you convert.

In this recipe, a creamy parsnip purée stands in for a traditional béchamel.

This is the classic salad dressing, one I rely on all the time not only for salads but as a marinade for meats, to drizzle on crostini, and more.

This is a robust dressing that is good with strongly flavored greens like escarole or spinach. It’s also very good on grilled foods and vegetables like potatoes, or as a dressing for chicken and pasta salad. Because the garlic thickens the dressing and gives it body, less oil is needed than for a conventional vinaigrette.

This basic white sauce is what gives many pasta dishes, like lasagna, a rich creamy texture. It’s not hard to make and you’ll find lots of uses for it.

For a richer yet more delicate flavor, nothing beats freshly made pasta. It takes a bit of time—and a pasta-rolling machine—but the results are worth the effort. It is certainly possible to buy good-quality fresh pasta, either in sheets or cut into noodles. But like making your own bread, making fresh pasta is a very satisfying way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I especially enjoy preparing fresh pasta at the holidays or when I have family over and everyone can get involved.

Every cook should have a good marinara sauce in his or her repertoire, and I think this one is just about perfect. Though not as quick to throw together as some of the other tomato sauces I depend on (see page 164 for a really quick, basic sugo), the time you invest in making it will be repaid with a full-flavored, robust sauce that can be used in dozens of different ways. The sauce freezes very well, so why not make a double batch to freeze (after cooling completely) in 2-cup portions? Frozen sauce may be stored for up to 3 months.

A scapece means pickled, and the longer the vegetables marinate in the red wine vinegar, the better they taste. My family used to make them in the winter when the veggies weren’t at their peak. These are super versatile; serve them alongside pasta, bread, fish, or meat or as the centerpiece of an antipasto platter.

Edamame are a rich source of fiber and phytochemicals that may help lower cholesterol, protect bones, and balance hormone levels. Serve this spicy spread with rice crackers as an anytime snack or for a party hors d’oeuvre. The dip is also delicious paired with cucumber, celery, and carrot sticks.

Chayote is a member of the gourd family, along with cucumbers, melons, and squash; it is mild tasting, with a crisp, pearlike texture. It is often used in salads and salsas, or baked and stuffed, like other squash. If you can’t find one, you can substitute honeydew melon instead, adding it after the mixture has been cooked and allowed to cool.

A papaya salsa with fiery Scotch bonnet chiles makes a colorful—and spicy—condiment for grilled steak. The salsa also goes well with grilled fish, particularly snapper. For less heat, seed the chiles before slicing them.

A mandoline makes easy work of slicing beets paper thin; if you don’t have one, you can use a very sharp knife, but the slices will take longer to dry out in the oven and won’t be as crisp once cooled. You’ll need four rimmed baking sheets to make the chips, or you can bake them in batches.

A snappy almond-and-herb pesto is a fresh departure from the classic pine-nut-and-basil version. For an even more nutritious variation, add three tablespoons ground flaxseed to the pesto.