Bell Pepper

We are happy to announce that Emily Connor has won our October "Cook the Cover" contest with her delicious variation on Emeril Lagasse's grillades. Emily Connor explains her variation:
Some of the most memorable recipes are those that combine the best of both worlds: In this case, Southern comfort food and classic Italian. The addition of crimini mushrooms, fresh thyme, and rosemary imparts the "hunter-style" (or cacciatore) while preserving the authenticity of the grillades. A few other changes — a simplified version of the spice rub, elimination of several dried herbs, and the use of olive oil and balsamic vinegar — streamline the recipe without sacrificing any of the flavor. As a twist to the dish, try serving with cauliflower purée. Not only does it complement the flavors and nicely soak up the braising liquid, but it's a great way to highlight the freshest of fall ingredients.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from The Dooky Chase Cookbook by Leah Chase and are part of our story on Mardi Gras.

Skirt steak is great on the grill. You can do just about anything to it, and it will not fail you. This preparation sparkles with the addition of the roasted lime juice.

The way most people make Italian sausage and peppers is to smother the sausage in lots of sautéed peppers. It's good, but I expand on the theme with plump, juicy tomatoes and a big handful of basil. And turkey sausage adds a healthy twist to this traditional dish. Try it spooned over pasta for a truly Italian experience.

Utensils needed: Heavy-bottomed saucepan; four 8-ounce containers with lids, sterilized
Cooking time: Approximately 20 minutes
Storage: Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 weeks.
Serving suggestions: Use as a condiment for meat, poultry, or fish; as a dip for crudités; or as a topping for croutons, baguette slices, or sliced cooked potatoes.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Joan Nathan's book The Foods of Israel Today. Nathan also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Nathan and Israeli cuisine, click here. Sometimes called Turkish Salad, this typical Israeli salad, served at almost every meal, has many variations. But one thing remains the same: the tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cucumbers must be cut into tiny pieces, a practice of the Ottoman Empire. Two types of cucumber are common in Israel: one, like the Kirby cucumber, goes by the name of melafofon in Hebrew and khiyar in Arabic; the other, called fakus in Arabic, is thinner, longer, and fuzzy, and is eaten without peeling.

Wonderfully pure, a "vat" of this stuff lasts about a week, depending on how much you eat each day. Eat as much of the soup as you like, as often as you like.

Traditionally, escabeche refers to fish marinated in a spicy sauce. Here, mushrooms stand in for the fish with delicious results.

If you have to buy more than the amount of ground lamb needed for this recipe, use the leftover meat to make a juicy lamb burger a day or two later.

The trick: Roast on paper.
Cooking on parchment, a nearly indestructible cooking paper, removes the need for most of the oil. The paper's waxy surface keeps food from sticking. "We can replicate a pan-fried finish by roasting anything on parchment," says Steve Pernetti, executive chef at Cal-a-Vie in Vista, California. Pernetti's Parchment-Roasted Vegetables offer C, A, folate, potassium, and calcium.

Sunday lunch. From Golden Door in Escondido, California. This soup, from The Golden Door Cooks Light & Easy (Gibbs-Smith), is stocked with a gardenful of vegetables. Look for the brightest beta-carotene beauties — golden corn, sunny yellow peppers, and ripe yellow tomatoes. Because the produce is raw, you're not cooking away any vitamins.

Sunday lunch. From Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas. Chef Terry Conlan calls this hearty sandwich "a two-fisted meal," and it's a healthful one, too: The fat is almost exclusively the good, monounsaturated kind (from olives and olive oil), and the peppers and tomatoes deliver vitamin C and beta-carotene — both known to boost the immune system. The unusual addition of fig preserves gives the sandwich a Mediterranean flair.

A taste of Chicago: deep-dish pizza. Chi-town pizza lovers may be die-hard advocates of the deep-dish, but no matter how you slice it, thin-crust has one major health advantage: It's considerably lower in calories. But if deep-dish is the pie of your dreams, try this one, made with turkey sausage instead of traditional Italian and part-skim mozzarella. We even added some green peppers to sneak in a veggie serving.

Wish you were here in Philadelphia, eating a cheese steak. No doubt about it, cheese steak is the quintessential Philly food. Too bad it can pack more than 60 grams of fat. To keep the greasy drippings from staining shirts, Philadelphians have learned the "Philly lean," a way of bending forward to the cheese steak rather than bringing it to the mouth. Self's "Philly lean" features a trimmer cut of meat, less cheese and more peppers so it has about half the calories and a third of the fat of the original — and provides 60 percent of your daily vitamin C needs.

When the heat is on, veg out with this easy meal. With farmers' markets sprouting up everywhere, it's easy to feast on good veggies. How to prepare all that produce? Serve it on skewers with a side of hummus, says Daniel Orr, executive chef of Guastavino's in New York City. Not only are the vegetables healthy, but the creamy bean dip boasts plenty of protein, some heart-helping monounsaturated fat and rosemary for an added antioxidant punch.

You can stuff five or six healthy vegetables into salsa (tomatoes, peppers, scallions, garlic, corn, whatever else is left in the crisper bin) then use that salsa five or six different ways (on fish, on chicken, in a burrito or, of course, on a delicious corn chip. You can make salsa in minutes. It keeps forever. It is the antidote to any of your vegetable woes!

Lasagna is comfort food — a real PMS soother. But it's also loaded with symptom-fighting calcium.

Want to feel alert and energized? Repeat after us: protein, protein, protein. Here's a way to get lots of it, with very little saturated fat. (For an equally high-energy vegetarian version of this dish, substitute 12 ounces firm tofu, drained and cut in 1-inch cubes, for the shrimp.)