Salmon

This dish might not be to everyone's (westernized) taste on a hungover morning, and it's also a breakfast with many components—rice, grilled fish, miso soup, pickles and a Japanese-style omelette—and some relatively obscure ingredients. Having said that, this is as clean, wholesome and nutritious as breakfast gets, so if anything is going to make you feel better it may well be this. However, I advise you to steer clear of tofu with a hangover (vegetarians: you may shoot me now); I've used cubes of potato instead.

Spread this creamy, smoky spread on toasted pumpernickel, flatbread, or bagel chips.

We swooned over deputy food editor Janet McCracken's pumpkin seed and cilantro pesto when she made it in the BA Test Kitchen. Now we use it on rice, pasta, roasted vegetables, and chicken, too.

For all the robustness of the ingredients of this dish, the end result is notably delicate. One might ask, "Oh, but won't the bracing scent of pine make the dish taste of Christmas fir or, worse, freshly waxed parlor?" It will not. The smoked needles impart a light, balsamic flavor akin to rosemary (indeed one might substitute a bundle of that herb in this recipe), and the light glaze allows the pine flavor to shine through. The overall effect proves an excellent complement to the moist, flaky fish this cooking technique yields. Should one desire a more intensely flavored glaze, one might make a bit extra to brush over the fish before serving.

The deep, sweet flavor of white miso gives salmon an umami-packed supercharge. Look for containers of refrigerated miso and bottles of mirin in better supermarkets or at Asian markets.

The kicky flavors of ginger, garlic, and garam masala play off the richness of salmon in this stunning main course. It's served with raita, a cooling cucumber-yogurt sauce.

This dish only looks indulgent: A serving has a mere 7 grams of saturated fat, and the pasta and peas help deliver 40 percent of your daily intake of folate, a nutrient that aids the body in forming red blood cells.

A hearty Italian bread salad serves up good-for-you omega-3 fatty acids (thank you, salmon!) along with vitamin C–rich green beans.

Breakfast meets dinner! Power up with salmon's protein; stay balanced with potato's blood-pressure-regulating potassium.

We swapped salmon for the crab in these tasty cakes. Sauteéing provides the same crispy texture as deep-frying but with less saturated fat.

Bright yellow mango sweetens the deal and adds a dose of vitamin A, which helps keep your skin glowing and clear.

Fresh herbs abound here—as does niacin, an energizing B vitamin: One serving of salmon dishes up nearly 70 percent of your daily niacin needs.

Delicious served warm or at room temperature, this is an elegant party dish that cooks quickly. The tart tomato-orange chutney can be made several hours in advance or the day before.

This is a Web-exclusive recipe for Epicurious from Chef Robert Harrison of Mills Tavern in Providence, Rhode Island. It's a great dish to make any day of the year, and perfect for a Super Bowl gathering or any party. If you don't have time to make quince jam, or can't find quince, you can substitute any fruit chutney.

Making a parchment envelope in which to steam a fillet of fish surrounded by aromatic vegetables may sound a bit fancy for just one, but cooking in parchment is actually one of the simplest and most effective ways of steaming, because it seals in the flavors. What a treat it is to have that golden-tinged, puffed-up half-moon of parchment on your plate, and then to tear it open and breathe in all the heady aromas. Moreover, you’ll have no cleanup afterward; just wipe off the Silpat mat and throw away the parchment after you’ve scraped and scooped up every last delicious morsel and its jus. If you want just one meal out of this, get about a 6-ounce fillet of flounder, halibut, salmon, red snapper—whatever looks good. Or, as I did recently, try tilapia, which is quite readily available these days and at a reasonable price. But bought almost twice the amount I needed, so I could play with the other half of the cooked fillet a couple of days later. I learned from Katy Sparks, whose book, Sparks in the Kitchen, is full of great cooking tips from a chef to the home cook, the trick of pre-roasting several slices of new potato so they can go in the parchment package. This way you have a complete, balanced meal-in-one cooked all together.

Pretty-in-pink salmon is loaded with heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

A whole side of salmon makes for a light, delicious—and impressive—main course.