Adapted from The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook: Vegetarian Recipes Carnivores Will Devour by Kim O'Donnel.... More

At first glance this Pasta with Parsley and Toasted Walnut Sauce from Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton's Canal House Cooking looks a lot like pesto. All of the usual suspects are accounted for: green herbs, nuts, garlic, oil, and cheese, and it's made in a mortar and pestle. But after grinding up a batch, I was struck by how un-pesto-like this sauce was, more delicate and creamy than its basil counterpart, and somehow much more of a stick-to-your-ribs plate of pasta. More

I've been counting down the days until I could make a real ratatouille. Though I've found a great recipe, success is almost purely based on the ripeness of the ingredients, and tomatoes only just started to have any real flavor in the Midwest. But I came across this eggplant caponata from Blue Kitchen. It's essentially an Italian variation of ratatouille, but with briny capers and golden raisins to give it a little kick. More

I've been meaning to try a recipe from Rick Moonen's Fish Without a Doubt, but it wasn't until I came across this dead simple one that I actually got my act together. Talk about easy. The cod is simply placed on a sheet of aluminum foil with thinly sliced zucchini, halved tomatoes, and a parsley pesto. It's wrapped up, slung in the oven, and cooked for 15 minutes. That's it. More

If there was every a good time to tackle a recipe requiring 5 pounds of asparagus, it's now. All those spears are grilled, pureed, and then topped with a gremolata to make a soup that's a pleasant break from my usual asparagus preparations. More

Recipes that use bottarga are usually breathtakingly simple, letting the pungent fish flavor do most of the work. This recipe is no different. The sauce is nothing more than garlic, parsley, and red pepper flakes cooked for a minute in olive oil. It's all a frame to let the bottarga shine. A dusting of toasted almonds helps give the pasta a bit more texture, but it's still the developed funkiness of bottarga that makes this dish. More

I was all set on Nigel Slater's "no-brainer" grilled chicken dinner, until I read the fine print: "Remove the bones from the legs with a sharp knife." No wonder it was in an article aimed at more experienced cooks (those... More