Herbs & Spices

Coconut milk adds surprising body and richness to the mint-lime mixture. If desired, reserve the lobster shells for stock.

A delicious balance of tangy, sweet, and spicy.

Fresh leaves give the classic lamb and mint sauce pairing a new twist. Great with jasmine rice and bok choy.

Mint gives delicious lift to the coconut flavors in this cake, which gets moistness from sweetened condensed milk and coconut cream.

Drink up and get a healthy dose of cancer-fighting lycopene.

Scallops are rich in iodine, essential to a healthy thyroid and metabolism.

Editor's note: The recipe is from Susan Curtis and Nicole Curtis Ammerman's book Santa Fe School of Cooking: Flavors of the Southwest.

Since emigrating from Vietnam in the 1970s, Kia Dickinson has been generously sharing her incredible recipes with everyone she meets, including food editor Ian Knauer. This colorful mix of moist poached chicken, cabbage, carrots, and fresh herbs tossed with a wild, tongue-searing dressing is the quintessential summer salad—cool, colorful, and very fresh. When preparing this recipe, Dickinson uses the leftover poaching liquid to make rice.

Whether used as a marinade or as a sauce, a versatile chimichurri complements most any grilled fish, chicken, or meat.

This fish is steamed on plates, which hold the marinade and juices around the fillets. Be sure that the plates you use have enough of a rim to hold some liquid, and are not larger in diameter than the pan you'll be using to steam. In order to fit the plate on top of the steamer, you'll need a steamer basket that's flat all the way across, without a central protrusion. Many Asian bamboo and stainless-steel steamers have this shape but, if you don't have one, you can substitute a ramekin: Simply place the ramekin on the bottom of the pan, fill the pan with water just to the height of the ramekin, and place the plate on top of the ramekin. In her video demonstration, Chef Cheng uses sole fillets for this dish, but any white, flaky fish such as halibut or flounder, would work well.

The stems of Swiss chard get short shrift way too often; when they're beautiful rainbow chard, they deserve a dish all their own. Blanched to remove toughness, then grilled—yes, we like our chard charred—their earthiness is a natural complement to meaty fava beans.

This dish embodies what's great about grilling: Just a few minutes over the coals transforms a handful of simple ingredients into a tasty dinner that's fuss-free and sure to please everyone.

What may seem like an incongruous mixture is actually a harmonious blend of ingredients and textures. There are few dishes that illustrate how the seemingly disparate flavors of sweet, sour, bitter, and salty can be successfully combined. One tip: While the melon should be chilled, the other ingredients are their most flavorful at room temperature, so combine the salad just before serving.

A slightly tart dressing and a perfectly crisp-sweet cucumber salad are wonderful foils for rich, meaty chunks of crab.

Three varieties of basil combine to make a powerfully fragrant and versatile topping for pasta, chicken, or fish.

Favorite Mediterranean ingredients come together in this creamy risotto. Adding the liquid from the tomatoes to the chicken stock underscores the flavor of the fresh tomatoes added at the very end. This is delicious made with any ripe red or orange tomatoes.