Herbs & Spices

We like to serve this main with couscous, rice, or grilled bread to sop up all of the shrimp's intensely flavored cooking liquid.

Pots de crème are little baked custards with a fancy name. A pinch of salt in these custards heightens the caramel flavor. Cover the baking pan of custard cups with aluminum foil; it makes for the most luxuriously smooth pots de crème you'll ever have.

Nationally renowned Chef Matthew Lightner of Atera in New York City is known for his special flair with seasonal ingredients. In this elegant-yet-approachable dish, Bosc pears are basted in caramel and served with homemade hazelnut butter and crunchy roasted hazelnuts. A scoop of good vanilla ice cream is the perfect complement to this fragrant and flavorful dessert.

This delightful side dish can be made 1 to 2 days before serving. Refrigerate in a covered container. Serve this dish with grilled pork tenderloin or chops. It would also be delicious with roast or grilled chicken.

This simple sauce goes well with spring rolls as a dipping sauce. Also, it makes a good marinade for seafood. I once served grilled trout marinated in this sauce to a friend who disliked fish—it completely changed his mind!

The addition of an anise-flavored liqueur turns this hot cocoa into the liquid version of chocolate-covered licorice.

This juice is a real energy boost, and it's great when you need a pick-me-up or when you need to fuel a workout. The fruit provides energy, while the beet increases endurance, and the celery and fennel push out toxins.

Sweet potato as juice? You bet. This pumpkin-colored tuber is not only a surprising—and easily sourced—ingredient with an appealing flavor, it also helps you get your glow on. The carotenoids in orange-colored vegetables like carrot and sweet potato have such beneficial effect on skin, they have a scientifically validated "attraction factor"—meaning that warm glow you naturally acquire makes others rate you as more attractive.

With its creamy, delicate flavor and cleansing ginger, this juice is perfect for after an indulgent holiday or Christmas.

These flavorsome burgers are ideal for relaxed family meals and offer a good hit of mood-lifting tryptophan.

Spoon gingery, slow-cooked beef and vegetables over wide rice noodles for a warming, soul-satisfying dinner.

Most braises start by browning the meat. Not this one. The cooked meat is sliced, floured, and seared at the end, which lends a pro touch to this dish.

Kabocha squash is made for purées.

The broccoli can be cooked early in the day, but toast the bread just before assembling so it doesn't dry out.

Rather than fussily cutting the grapefruit into neat segments, Mattos cuts them crosswise into disks; he likes the slightly bitter flavor of the membrane itself.

A mix of fragrant spices, garlic, and fresh ginger turn this stewed chicken into the most perfectly warming dinner for an October Sunday.

Cooking the potatoes on a wire rack lets hot air circulate around them, so they get extra crisp.

Fresh celery lightens this guacamole and adds some serious crunch.