Poach

I like this one because it's a one-pan dish—you will need a pan with a lid. You can use a can of tomatoes instead of making the purée if you wish, but puréeing the tomatoes produces a better result. You don't need to be precise with the quantities for this dish at all—a handful of cherry tomatoes, add some onion, etc. The important thing is to have the lid to keep in steam and heat so you get a very nice lightly cooked fish. You don't want to overcook it. I've used hake but you can use any white fish like cod, sea bass, halibut or even salmon. It's simple but tasty, and the kind of thing you could easily rustle up for yourself or friends. You can use any green veg but it works well with fennel—sautéed in a pan or slow-baked, or added to the pan and cooked with the fish and tomatoes. This is a great one for a novice cook.

I used to be put off by poaching chicken as I feared it was more complicated than my simple fried version. But it's actually much easier, because while the chicken poaches you can prepare the rest of the food. These days I often poach 3 or 4 chicken breasts at a time, then keep them in the fridge so I can toss them into salads over the following days. Poaching really helps to keep the moisture in the meat, so the end result is much more enjoyable than dried, overcooked chicken.

Double the chile oil, keep it chilled, and drizzle it over flatbreads, pastas, and all of your grilled meats and vegetables all summer long.

Poaching the shrimp with their shells on locks in their flavor.

Babylonstoren's chef Maranda Engelbrecht uses exotic tamarillos. If you can get them, great. If not, tomatoes are your best swap.

Start your weekend mornings right with this healthier, more delicious breakfast bowl.

A silky, herby vinaigrette brings together fresh eggs and peak-season vegetables.

Both the salmon and the artichokes are poached in spice-and herb-infused liquids, adding layers of subtle aromatic flavor.

You're going to want to add this gently spiced and meltingly tender fish to your simple weeknight meal rotation.

Here's another dessert that was inspired by a wine-tasting dinner. It's often hard to come up with a dessert that pairs well with wine, but this savory-sweet dessert does. At its center is a Seckel pear, a small, reddish pear with a slightly spicy flavor. It has a firm flesh that makes it perfect for poaching. In this dessert I poach the pears in pomegranate juice with some ground black pepper. A chunk of Cabrales cheese, a strong blue cheese from northern Spain, is sandwiched between the top and bottom halves of the pear, and a Szechuan Ice Cream is served with it, sitting on a diamond of baked almond cream.

Instead of using canned tuna, this recipe puts you in control of the quality of the tuna and how long to cook it. We like it on the medium-rare side.

Scoring the plums helps the poaching liquid infuse the fruit all the way to the pit.

This recipe comes from MariaElena Sikolas-Toledo and her mother, Kathy Katevatis Sikolas, who has been cooking since she was 12 years old and, reports MariaElena, she "continues to titillate the taste buds of those lucky enough to sit at her kitchen table." According to MariaElena, dried cod fish pie is exclusive to the Greek Island of Cephalonia, where Kathy Sikolas was born and raised. Cephalonia is the largest of the islands in the Ionian Sea and "has a rich, varied cuisine." While the dish is not difficult to make, the recipes is a bit time-consuming, especially if you make your own phyllo dough, which MariaElena insists "is worth the extra elbow grease." If you don¿t want to make homemade phyllo dough, use one package (two sheets) of frozen puff pastry. When using puff pastry, don¿t oil the baking dish and rather than oiling the top of the pie, brush it with an egg wash, which is one egg, lightly beaten with a splash of water. The time commitment required for this recipe is also due to the fact that the dried cod needs to be rinsed, soaked, and poached before you can make the filling. Keep in mind that brands of salt cod can vary in their degree of saltiness so while 24 hours may be sufficient for some, the full 36-hour soak will be required for others. To test the cod, simply taste a small piece after one day—it should be pleasantly salty but not overwhelming.

Use either arctic char or salmon for this super springy and fresh fish dinner.

This dish has a French feel. You can enjoy it morning, afternoon or night, and you'll definitely want to. -Mendelsohn

Parve Todd: To me, gefilte fish out of a jar is an abomination, but my version, basically an interpretation of the French quenelles be brochet, is cheftastic. Choosing between the two is a no-brainer, in my opinion (see Gefilte Fish: Jarred or Fresh? below). I prefer to use rockfish, otherwise known as sea bass, for gefilte fish because it is indigenous to the Chesapeake region. I blend it with pike and flounder, but you could use any combination of the three. Any white, non-oily fish will do for that matter. I've even made them with salmon; the light pink color makes a nice change of pace. It's best to poach the fish balls a day ahead of time so they can rest in their cooking liquid for several hours. They can be eaten cold, but Ellen and I like to serve them warm—they make a great, non-meat brunch entrée.

Burning the leek in this recipe lends an aromatic charred note, adding balance to the raw and poached cauliflower.