Sear

Want to grab a bottle of olive oil and lunch? Then stop by Caseus, a cheese shop/bistro combo. The place is named for drained, pressed milk curds—and the folks here do know their cheese. The shop carries more than 100 artisanal varieties, which show up on the bistro menu. In this recipe, goat cheese adds wonderful flavor and texture to spicy hush puppies.

Nduja, a spicy spreadable salami, is incredible with the pork.

Tamarind gives this seared steak a flavor that's smoky yet bright.

Harissa (a spicy chile sauce from North Africa) gives the steak some heat. The meat needs to marinate for at least two hours, so plan accordingly.

You can never go wrong by adding a little crunch to scallops when you sauté them. Usually, you dredge them in flour, cornmeal, or bread crumbs before adding them to the hot pan, and it's something that most everyone seems to like. But you can take that crunch and give it an intense flavor by dredging the scallops directly in a spice mix. Although you can't do this with everything—dried herbs don't get crisp, and some spices are far too strong to use in this quantity—it works perfectly with curry powder, which not only seasons the scallops and their accompanying sauce but gives them the crunch we all crave.

Mixed-olive tapenade is available in the refrigerated deli section of many supermarkets. Use a version that is chopped, not smooth.

Unlike their cousin the blueberry—which is sometimes used in savory cooking, although almost never successfully—cranberries are not at all sweet and so make a much more natural companion for meat. One trick I’ve learned over the years is that dusting the meat with a sprinkling of sugar makes the browning process go much more rapidly and leaves behind a caramelized residue that lends a great complexity to the final dish. It’s not an appropriate trick for every occasion, but it’s perfect for this gutsy, appealing, and unusual pot roast. Most pot roasts depend mightily for their flavor on the juices exuded by the meat itself, but since the meat’s contribution here is minimized by the powerful cranberry-based combination, a faster-cooking cut like tenderloin works perfectly, reducing the cooking time to just over an hour.

It might seem like a joke to include a recipe designed to use up leftover white wine (from our Roast Turkey with Black Truffle Butter and White–Wine Gravy )—after all, why not just drink it?—but if you take the time to make this marvelous one–dish lamb dinner, you might find yourself hoarding half–empty bottles so you can make it again and again. Lamb shoulder chops are an inexpensive cut that benefits from braising, and the wine really helps tenderize the connective tissues running through the flavorful meat. Snuggling the lamb between sheets of thinly sliced potatoes, plus scatterings of golden garlic, onions, and thyme sprigs, creates a handsome and wonderfully aromatic dish.

From the delicate calamari to the crunchy celery and crisp greens, this salad is a mélange of wonderful textures. Make sure to use the freshest calamari you can find, and cook it quickly over the hot griddle to keep it as tender as possible.

Serve this quick flavor-packed steak with sliced avocado, orange, and red onion. Canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce are sold at supermarkets and Latin markets.

Two Italian cheeses (Fontina and Parmesan) lend an Italian flair to these tiny sandwiches. Brushing the bread with sage-infused butter and topping each sandwich with a sage leaf adds flavor—and visual appeal.

Briny olives and sweet golden raisins work in tandem to bring balance to this simple, delicious one-pan fish dinner.

You'll achieve fresh, fiery flavor for only a few calories with this Mexican stew. And although hominy isn't technically a whole grain (the germ and hull are removed), its high fiber makes it a bona fide waist-whittling carb.

Pear nectar gives the sauce a sweet, luscious finish.

Get your fix of two favorites (Chinese and pizza) in one crusty canapé—for fewer than 150 calories.

This is a Greek version of hummus that captures the soul of the Mediterranean. For this recipe, be sure to use premium-quality imported sun-dried tomatoes; they should be plump and soft with red hue.

I met twelve-year-old Frank Liranzo when I was teaching a kids' cooking class at the YMCA's environmental camp in Huguenot, New York. The kids learned how to tap trees to make maple syrup, a process I'd read about but never seen in action. Frank was one of the campers, and he got to experience firsthand the old art of making maple syrup. "You put tubes into the trees so the sap flows out," he says. "When it first comes out of the tree, it tastes like sugary water. Then we went to the sugar shack where we saw the sap boiled down until it tasted like syrup." At the camp, I made this Maple-Glazed Tuna with Pear-Potato Salad for the kids. "I thought it would taste really sugary, but it didn't," Frank told me. "First I tasted the fish, then a hint of mustard, and then an aftertaste of the maple syrup." I love how the syrup adds sweetness and a beautiful caramelized crust to the meaty tuna steaks, while the sweetness of the pears in the accompanying potato salad balances nicely with the glazed tuna.

This version of the French classic from the lounge at Craftsteak is both exceptional (chef Shane McBride dry-ages his bone-in strip steak 15 to 20 days) and economical (half the meat, same great flavor).

Carrots are like a quiet but secretly remarkable child who doesn't attract much attention. Most often they're simply what you throw into a soup or a braised dish to "add a little sweetness." But it's because of that inner sweetness that they're so suited to charring on a chapa. The sugar caramelizes and produces a delicious crust. They are tossed with nutty garlic chips, peppery arugula, and creamy goat cheese.