Herbs & Spices

This simple sauce is great with the roly-poly.

It's not Easter dinner without the eggs. In this recipe, they are boiled just until the yolks are set, then sliced and topped with a fresh herb sauce.

These classic pleated Chinese dumplings are delicious either steamed or fried. When fried, they're called "pot stickers." Though the dough is easy to make, if you're short on time you can use premade round gyoza wrappers (also called dumpling or pot sticker wrappers) instead. Look for them in Asian markets and the refrigerated section of many grocery stores.

This recipe, based on Elizabeth David's GNOCCHI DI RICOTTA in her book Italian Food, has become one of our most-often-requested house formulas. Requiring fresh, curdy ricotta, it yields succulent, tender dumplings that always beguile. But since fresh ricotta varies in texture, flavor, and moisture content, depending on the season, what the animals are eating, who is making it, and how long they drain it, we often need to tinker with the recipe, adding more Parmigiano-Reggiano for flavor, or butter for richness. If the cheese is particularly wet, we add a little more egg, or we hang it overnight in cheesecloth, refrigerated (or we do both). Very wet ricotta can weep 1/2 cup liquid per pound. Don't substitute machine-packed supermarket ricotta; flavor issues notwithstanding, mechanical packing churns and homogenizes the curds and water—you'll have trouble getting enough water back out. Tender fresh sheep's milk ricotta, if you can get it, makes delicious gnocchi and is worth the extra expense. Having offered ricotta gnocchi four or five evenings per week for more than a decade, we have a large repertory of accompaniments for, and variations on, this dish. We sometimes add freshly grated nutmeg, chopped lemon zest, or chopped sage stewed in butter to the batter before forming the gnocchi. Or we form thumbnail-sized gnocchi and poach them in chicken broth for a delicate soup course. One of the nicest variations is to fold flecks of barely cooked spinach into the batter. These Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi recall the Florentine mainstay, variously called ravioli verdi ("green ravioli"), ignudi ("naked" ravioli), or malfatti ("poorly fashioned," which they needn't be), and are sublime. Although these gnocchi are delicious and delicate enough to serve with just a cloak of melted butter, I list my favorite seasonal accompaniments at the end of the recipe to provoke you to think of serving ricotta gnocchi often, and year-round. Wine: Chehalem Willamette Valley Pinot Gris, 2000

"Anyone who has spent time in any North African country has stories about mint tea so sweet that the glass sticks to their lips," says Zadi. His version, though a strong tea, is light on the sweetening.

Like cinnamon in this country, cardamom plays a starring role in Algerian sweets. Paired with star anise in a gingery syrup, it gives clementine slices an irresistible aroma, but the syrup would be just as wonderful over any kind of sliced fruit.

There's enough garlic butter here to drench every morsel of lobster meat—you'll want to serve crusty bread on the side to soak it all up.

Despite the exotic name of this sandwich, you can get all the ingredients right at the supermarket. Liverwurst stands in for the traditional pork-pâté filling—the meatiness works beautifully with the sharp-flavored vegetables and fresh cilantro.

The French version of pesto, pistou is often stirred into soupe au pistou, Provence's vegetable and bean soup. In this dish, the vegetable soup ingredients and pistou are blended together into a flavorful puree that's topped with shrimp. To serve as a main course, add a side of orzo tossed with good-quality olive oil, salt, plenty of pepper, and some grated Asiago cheese.

Here's a great new way to roast beets: in a salt crust. The horseradish, thyme, and orange in the crust infuse the beets with bright flavor as they're cooking. Leftover beets make a great addition to salads. Lightly coat torn butter lettuce with a Sherry wine vinaigrette, top with the sliced beets and some sliced red onion, and drizzle with a bit of the horseradish crème fraîche.

Any variety of kale will work in this recipe. If available, try ruffled Red Russian kale, Tuscan kale, or Salad Savoy.

When shopping for a chicken, look for the organic seal. An organic chicken will be juicier than one that's conventionally raised. In this recipe, the chicken is butterflied for quicker cooking.

Look for squash that are heavy for their size.

Roasting the meat for almost seven hours makes it tender and succulent. The bright, fresh salsa verde is the perfect accent for the rich meat.

Serve with warm flatbread or pita bread.

Debi Mazar shared this recipe exclusively with Epicurious. When making this rich dish, Mazar likes to multiply the recipe by one and a half. Leftovers can be quickly heated and served over pasta for an easy, delicious weeknight dinner.

The ciabatta slices make for man-sized crostini, perfect for a Super Bowl party. If you can, always cut the bread into bite-sized chunks for more manageable portions.