Herbs & Spices

As quick as a stir-fry, this is my go-to fast food. My take on veal scaloppine uses ham, Riesling, and, best of all, lavender. The floral herb is similar to sage and works beautifully here. I prefer the aroma of the tiny purple buds on the flowers, but if you can’t find those, the leaves work well, too.

Fresh spinach and cheese is one of my favorite combinations. Here, the blast of the heat from the oven wilts the greens into the melted cheese. To brighten the flavors, I toss in a bunch of fresh herbs, too. If you have a pizza oven or stone at home, use it here. It’ll char the edges of the leaves and make them crisp.

When basil grows in my garden, I want to make the most of it. To enhance its aroma, I pair it with pistachios and add a hit of chile and lemon zest to brighten it. Be sure to start with roasted pistachios in their shells and to keep the pesto coarse to highlight the crunch of the nuts.

This pasta dish pairs creamy with crunchy, tart with sweet. Summer string beans also offer a little crunch to balance the juiciness of the tomatoes. I especially like using orange Sunbursts from my garden.

I like to make my sandwiches more French than American, which is to say, I use less meat. Here, there’s just enough turkey proportional to the other ingredients. Be sure to use high-quality roasted turkey here to best enjoy the bright, fresh mayonnaise. Of course, the best turkey option will come from your Thanksgiving leftovers (page 146).

This will delight vegetarians—and carnivores, too. The warm, meaty mushrooms are so satisfying, especially when topped with pickled chiles, arugula, and Parmesan shavings. Fragrant fresh rosemary, which too often overpowers, adds a subtle depth of flavor to homemade mayonnaise, which is key here.

It’s the surprising combination of sweet, tart, creamy, and crunchy additions that makes me crave this summery soup. This gazpacho is all about the garnishes.

This is the type of salad my mom used to make—unfussy and delicious. It’s best with fresh spring potatoes and onions, but it hits the spot any time of year. While I love drinking dry white Alsatian whites, I enjoy making this salad with a good Sancerre.

Tangy goat cheese makes a perfect salad dressing for wax beans (haricots verts work well here, too). To balance the creamy cheese, I toss the sweet tomatoes with a bright, acidic vinaigrette. Together, they make an amazing summer salad.

I love to present this in martini glasses like an old-school shrimp cocktail. The sauce has the horseradish bite of the classic, but with a juicy, sweet freshness from the peach. Traditionally, the shrimp would be chilled first, but I serve them warm for a hit of hot and cold at the same time in each bite.

There are few snacks I enjoy more than popcorn. Maybe it’s because I like watching movies to relax on the weekends. But also, there’s something about its light crispness that’s so appealing—it goes well with just about any cocktail. When I don’t have fresh rosemary on hand—or when I’m craving a little heat—I toss popcorn with a pinch of piment d’Espelette, smoked paprika, or Korean chile powder.

These nuts smell wonderful while baking. I use them in Grilled Chicken Salad with Apples and Roquefort (page 130), but I also eat them as a snack all the time. When I have some left, I put out a bowl for guests. They keep well for up to three days, but they rarely last that long in my house.

Even though I originally conceived of this as my take on homemade ginger ale, I’m hesitant to call it that. It’s such a far cry from the sugary bottled stuff. It has an intense gingery heat that’s heightened by the acidity from the lemon. Be sure to use a fresh bottle of club soda here. (I prefer the little bottles of Schweppes.) You need the fizziness to deliver the flavor.

This is ideal as a summer refresher, but tastes great any time of year. I love combining lemon and thyme in savory dishes, and they taste great together in this sweet drink, too. Lemon thyme, which has a light citrus note, is available in specialty stores and is easy to grow in your garden. I prefer using brands of citrus vodka that have clean flavors, like Skyy and Grey Goose Le Citron. Other times, I leave the vodka out altogether—definitely when I’m serving this to kids!

If we had a family drink, this would be it. (Underage kids excepted, of course.) It’s my older daughter Louise’s favorite, and she makes this margarita perfectly for all of us on the weekends. I love the heat of the ginger balanced by aged tequila. Be sure to use high-quality aged tequila here. Otherwise, the drink will taste like spring break gone wild.

This is easily my favorite party drink. I combine the white wine of my native Alsace with the tropical fruit flavors I first came to love when I cooked in Thailand. It’s a natural pairing and tastes amazing with just about anything. Best of all, it’s meant to be made ahead of time, leaving me free to finish up dinner prep.

I love a good coffee cake to serve as a snack or for breakfast, and when I needed a vegan version, this recipe is the one I turned to. My friend Leslie Cerier is an organic caterer and the author of Going Wild in the Kitchen.

Poached pears always make a lovely dessert, but what makes this extra pleasing is the addition of glazed pecans.

This is a most useful dressing for me—perhaps even more so than the basic vinaigrette in the previous recipe. I love how it tastes on crisp salads, giving them an Asian accent. You can also use this on cooked Asian noodles to make an easy side dish.