Tarragon

When I roast salmon steaks, I often like to start a pan of root vegetables in the oven 5 to 10 minutes before the salmon. I toss quartered potatoes and 1-inch chunks of parsnips and carrots with a small amount of olive oil. A complete meal is cooked in less than 20 minutes!

Fried capers lend a light, salty crunch to these addictive little bites.

"Talk to most chefs and they'll say they'd want a perfectly roasted chicken for their last meal," says Sean Brock. For his definitive version, Brock starts with superflavorful heritage-breed chickens, but the key to the dish is prepoaching the bird in an immersion circulator. Because most home cooks don't have access to this equipment, we adapted the recipe to work in a home kitchen.

I just ate a meal of some meltingly tender pork, butternut squash, and toasted walnuts. No, this isn't my food journal. I'm sharing this information with you because the above foods are supposed to reduce the incidence of many diseases that might come my way. Okay, maybe you're not interested in your arteries working at peak capacity; maybe what you want is to enjoy food to the maximum and not have to force it down your throat because it's good for you. That said, you'll love this dish, whether or not its health benefits ever cross your mind.

This easy dinner is special enough for company.

Rounding this main course into supper for company is easy. Get store-bought hummus and pita chips for everyone to nibble on while you're at the grill, and serve the skewers with rice or couscous on the side and a bottle of rosé. Have a guest bring ice cream, sorbet, or cookies for dessert.

If you want to get that restaurant- quality caramelized crust on a scallop, you need to do three things: "rinse it, pat it dry with a paper towel—and then get your pan really hot. Don't be afraid,"says Vitaly paley, chef at Paley's Place. We've found that one to two minutes per side browns the scallops without overcooking them. And gastrique? that's a sweet-sour sauce made from caramelized sugar and vinegar. To get the full Paley's Place experience, serve with parsnip mash, a subtly sweet side that echoes the sweetness of the scallops.

The slight sweetness delivered by the cream in this sauce complements the sweetness of the pork loin, a characteristic intensified by roasting. The mustard in the sauce offers just the right balance of tartness. Accompany the pork loin with sautéed apples and roasted potatoes.

It's the watercress that makes this new riff on a classic greener—and zestier, too.

The technique: On Thanksgiving, do-aheads are key. This super-savory gravy can be made a day ahead. All you have to do before serving is heat it up and stir in some tarragon.
The payoff: No last-minute pan-scraping and reducing required.

This single recipe is a complete Thanksgiving dinner.

A pat of the slightly tangy butter is tucked into the center of each beef patty. As the burger cooks, the butter melts, giving the meat an extra-tender texture and a hit of citrusy flavor.

Small whole fish like trout, char, walleye, bass, and even lake perch are excellent for planking, especially smoke-planking. They get the flavor of the wood plank on one side and a burnished golden color and smoky flavor on the other. An indirect fire is used to slowly cook the whole fish through. Char, in flavor and texture a cross between trout and salmon, is best planked whole. It's easier to fillet after it is cooked and stays moister that way. This method can be used with fish fillets and steaks, too. Whenever you grill fish, grill lemon halves alongside. The little bit of browning adds flavor, and the heat makes the lemons burst with juice. Suggested plank: 2 cedar grilling planks, soaked in water for at least 1 hour
Suggested wood: Sugar maple or apple chips, or chopped corncobs

Roasted potatoes are topped with an herb salad and chopped hard-boiled eggs in this take on the summer staple.

The classic Italian sauce gets an update with the addition of parsley and tarragon.

Navarre adds hard-boiled eggs to his version of this classic green French sauce, good on anything from fish and cold meats to grilled foods.

Mussels are a quick and simple dish that is protein-rich and nutrient-dense. Don't forget to serve steamed mussels with a spoon so as not to miss any of the beery, creamy, herb-flavored juice.

To be sure the flavor of the fresh herbs comes through, use regular olive oil (not extra-virgin) in the tarragon-chive oil.