Rice & Grains

No trip to South Carolina’s Low-Country is complete without a nibble of the region’s famed shrimp and grits. This recipe, from the Boathouse in Charleston, South Carolina, uses smoked andouille sausage and green hot pepper sauce to provide the essential kick, while a generous cup of whipping cream mellows the heat and smoothes the grits. Serve this for a casual dinner party, or use it to liven up a midweek meal. Epicurious members also serve this with pasta or polenta.

This dish is as good as the time and ingredients you put into it, so use quality ingredients and patience to get the flavors to harmonize. A teaspoon of white truffle oil can substitute for the black truffles.

These chocolate delights manage to be both light and decadent at the same time. Dark chocolate mingles with earthy rolled oats as juicy bits of dried cherry add extra dimension to the already satisfying chewiness. “These cookies are best served light and fluffy, just baked through,” notes Epicurious member alyb2002, the author of this recipe, and they are easy enough to be a cookie jar mainstay all-year round.

Remember the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy steps out of her house and everything turns Technicolor? This gorgeous, colorful vegetarian supper from chefs Bruce Aidells and Nancy Oakes has the same effect on a winter day. Butternut squash absorbs the laundry list of zingy spices, but if you’re sensitive to spices, feel free to cut the cayenne by half. Add chickpeas for a hearty, nutty dose of protein, and top with a cooling dollop of Greek yogurt.

A satisfying budget-friendly Southern supper with leftovers that pack up easily for lunch the next day—what else could you ask for? This one-pot feast is packed with turkey, rice, and peppers, plus a little cayenne for spice. If you don’t like turkey, use chicken instead and add a dash of smoked paprika or lean bacon for a warm, earthy effect.

Get a full serving of the Southwest with this bowl of beans, barley, and chicken from Epicurious member Mike Kubin. This hearty soup is perfect for midweek eating. If you prefer a meatless version, simply omit the chicken and substitute vegetable broth for the chicken stock. You can even bump up the bean count for additional protein—and extra fiber. Store any leftovers in the fridge, and take this soup to work for lunch.

This unassuming rice salad from Mustard Seed Market & Café in Akron, Ohio, is so unusual it’s likely to shift everyone’s attention from the main course. Dates and cinnamon, two Middle Eastern staples, are paired with cashews, green onions, and cilantro and are punched up with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Use a cast-iron pot to get what Persian-style rice is best known for—the crispy toasted bits. Topped with a fried egg, it’s a casual supper; paired with simple roasted fish, it’s a proper formal meal.

Bright orange, cooling mint, sweet raisins, and earthy pecans—yep, this wild rice salad by Epicurious member Jruz has pretty much nothing in common with the salty kitchen-sink rice salad from the school cafeteria. Try this alongside pork tenderloin or roasted poultry for a welcome change from starchy mashed potatoes.

This bulgur salad makes a delicious and healthy side. It travels well, too.

This dish from Epicurious member Christopher Curtis of Halifax, Canada, pairs well with Mexican, barbecue, or various fish dishes. Easy to make, the rice is infused with natural smoke from the grilled corn and peppers. Add chipotles to enhance that smokiness, or throw in some sausage, such as chorizo, for a meaty main course.

Bring the vibrant colors and fresh flavors of this Spanish dish to your table in under an hour. Spicy chorizo, fresh shrimp, roasted peppers, and tangy artichoke hearts melt together on a bed of saffron-infused rice in an easy dish, ideal for summer sharing. Personalize your paella by adding a favorite shellfish or throwing in some cooked onions.

This recipe is a great way to use the extra zucchini from the garden or farmers’ market and is chockfull of healthy ingredients. For an even more nutritious version, substitute the same amount of applesauce for the butter, and brown sugar instead of white.

High in protein, low in price, fast to make, and gluten-free, quinoa is the ultimate grain. With this much-beloved recipe, watch lime juice, black beans, and tomatoes transform a “health food” into a must-make side dish perfect for barbecues or school lunches. The flavors get more concentrated over time, so make it a day ahead for maximum impact. Use olive oil instead of butter to make it vegan.

Chicken makes this ceremonial Aztec soup healthier than the pork-based original. While this does require some preparation, the extra time and effort pay off with an intense, flavorful entrée.

This may be the most sought-after cookie recipe in the book, the cookie that makes it into Seattle Metropolitan magazine's food lover's guide year after year. Once, when director, screenwriter (When Harry Met Sally), and novelist Nora Ephron was in town, she stopped by the dahlia Bakery and bought a few of these cookies. Later she e-mailed me, saying this was her all-time favorite and asked for the recipe. Naturally, I sent it to Nora along with a big package of cookies. When I asked Nora if I could name the cookie after her in my cookbook, she said, "Are you kidding me? This may be the greatest cookie ever ever ever." A sandwich cookie takes more effort than a drop cookie, because you have to make both cookies and filling. In addition, this recipe involves a chilling step and requires the cookies to be double-panned. But the results are worth it for the best-textured peanut butter cookie with the creamiest peanut filling. After arranging the scoops of cookie batter on a baking sheet, slip another baking sheet underneath to double-pan so the cookies bake more slowly and evenly. Since you can bake only eight cookies per baking sheet, and the cookies must be double-panned, you'll have to bake them in batches. Be sure to let the baking sheets cool thoroughly before reusing them. We use two different peanut butters in this recipe. Skippy creamy peanut butter makes the filling smooth and creamy. Adams crunchy peanut butter, which like other natural peanut butters must be well mixed before using to incorporate the oil, has just the right almost-runny consistency and crunchy bits of peanuts to give the cookies the perfect texture. To re-create our peanut butter sandwich cookies, we suggest you use the same or similar brands. We prefer moist brown sugar from a resealable plastic bag rather than from a box. This recipe requires a 2-hour or longer chill of the shaped cookie dough, so plan accordingly. The amount of salt in the filling is a perfect balance to the creamy peanut butter, but if you are substituting table salt for the kosher salt called for in the recipe, be sure to cut the amount in half. This recipe was inspired by the Bouchon Bakery.

Chef Kris Wessel of Florida Cookery in Miami Beach, Florida, shared this recipe as part of a Palm Tree Christmas menu he created exclusively for Epicurious.

This is one of my favorite recipes in this book, mainly because of the fun evening I had developing it while visiting my dear friend Kevyn in New York City. I prepared it in his kitchen while he and our mutual friend Jennifer looked on, sipping wine. We enjoyed the meal with a bottle of Côtes du Rhône wine and then, with dessert, drank port left over from the recipe. This is one of the most elegant dishes in the book, and while it's by no means difficult to prepare, it's an indulgent recipe that is ideal for a special occasion or a dinner party.—JH

We love the way Dijon mustard enhances the similarly assertive flavor of the kale, while mellow pine nuts and Parmesan cheese balance it out. You can make this salad a day ahead; the flavors develop and deepen with a little extra time in the fridge. It's also delicious served warm or at room temperature.

These addictive little fritters can be made in bite-size pieces perfect for cocktail parties, or slightly larger for plated appetizers. Their texture and flavor are reminiscent of hush puppies. Here the fritters are pan fried, but they can also be cooked in a deep-fryer at 375°F for about 3 minutes, turning them over halfway through cooking, until browned.

Pinhead oats, which are similar to steel-cut oats but contain some oats that are ground finer, like flour, make a foolproof crunchy-crisp gluten-free crust for pan-fried fish. You can exchange the catfish for just about any common white fish here—use a lower heat level under the pan and a longer cooking time for thicker fillets. Some good options include U.S. farmed tilapia, ocean perch, Pacific halibut, and line-caught Atlantic cod. Wild salmon would also be delicious—just be sure to avoid overcooking it.