Wine

Steep cucumber and mango in the wine for three hours or longer for maximum flavor. Once the fruit sinks, the wine is ready.

A glass of chilled Prosecco is a fine prelude to a summer meal. Morphed into a sophisticated gelée, it's a great ending, too.

A 4-ounce fillet of mild-tasting tilapia has only 108 calories.

Peaches are abundant in the area around Piacenza. My mom's mother, Nonna Stella, used to use them in this traditional dish during the months when the peaches were at their best. In fact, my mom likes to tell me how, when she was pregnant, she ate them nonstop. The peaches should be very ripe and juicy. If they're not so juicy, you may need to chop an extra peach half for the filling, to add a little moisture. Make amaretti crumbs by pulsing the cookies in a food processor, or putting them in a resealable plastic bag, and crushing them with a rolling pin or a meat mallet.

I used to be reluctant to open a bottle of wine at home unless I was entertaining, because I’d drink a glass or two and then have to contend with the leftover vino. There are various ways to deal with it (see sidebar, page 23), but once I discovered this idea from blogger Michele Humes on SeriousEats.com, it was a problem no more. Even lesser-quality wine becomes a deeply flavored condiment good for drizzling on ice cream, chocolate desserts, or citrus segments. It can be used for layering in a parfait with Greek-style yogurt (see page 161) or for hydrating dried cherries in a tart with almonds (page 163). I tend to use whatever spices strike my fancy at the time; with red wine, I like this particular combination, but whole cinnamon, cloves, and/or allspice, for example, could be used for a more pronounced flavor. The best thing about this syrup? Once you cool it, it can be refrigerated in an airtight container indefinitely.

When I first visited Portland, Oregon, I left with two regrets: that I didn’t plan on more days (so I could eat more) in that glorious food-obsessed city, and that I didn’t pack an extra duffel for all the edible stuff I wanted to carry back home. On that last point, I limited myself to dried sour cherries and dry-roasted hazelnuts. When I wasn’t scarfing them out of hand, I threw them into dishes, alone but often in combination, proving the validity of the saying, “If it grows together, it goes together.” For this dish, I turned the hazelnuts and dried cherries into a sauce that can be made with Mulled Wine Syrup (page 6) or Pinot Noir (another Oregon specialty) to pour over pan-fried Cornish hen. I like to cook it al mattone, which means “with a brick,” a quick method that results in even cooking, a crisp skin, and moist flesh.

Tender and succulent, this red wine-braised beef stew is the ultimate one-pot meal, loaded with tender potatoes and carrots. Don't forget to bring over a loaf of crusty French bread for sopping up the rich sauce.

A passover meal wouldn't be complete without haroseth, a traditional, chutney-like condiment.

Before making this dish, call your fish market. Octopus is available at some markets, but it may need to be ordered several days ahead.

Add any leftover grape puree to a glass of sparkling water or to a quick pan sauce for chicken or duck breast.

Kale goes by another name, one much more dashing, especially in Italian. Cavolo Nero, black cabbage, may not evoke superhero status, but it's close. Kale does seem invincible and it's known to make the eater more so, too. It's also called dinosaur kale (also called lacinato), maybe because its leaves look like the back of a lizard. Those thin knobby leaves squeak. Do not confuse cavolo, accent on the first syllable, with cavallo, accent on the second, or you'll be ordering black horse, and in certain parts of the world will find it. Hearty and good for the spirit. I like soaked and cooked cannellini better than canned ones.

Before the success of Animal restaurant, the glowing New Yorker profile, and their new fish spot, Son of a Gun, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo Were upstart caterers to the stars. Bummer, they can't cater your Oscar party (they're already booked), but they've shared the recipe for one of their most popular dishes: melted petit basque cheese and chorizo dip with grilled bread. animalrestaurant.com

If you like, save one tablespoon of the butter for the celery root puree .

Bourguignonne refers to any dish cooked in the style of Burgundy, France. This dish is similar to classic boeuf bourguignonne (French beef stew), which is beef braised with red wine and mushrooms. Although oxtail was once the tail of an ox, these days the bony cut is beef or veal. Mashed potatoes would make the perfect side dish.

"Finish with gremolata and boiled peanuts." How often have you heard that phrase? Or, for that matter, the words "boiled-peanut beurre blanc"? Such is the beauty of melding Southern and French techniques. And who better to teach us a thing or two about fresh takes on Southern food than a Canadian, happily assimilated in Georgia? Hugh Acheson says that any medium-bodied fish will work with the sauce. We believe it to be delicious with flounder.