Onion

This hearty dish was inspired by frango na púcara, a Portuguese chicken dish that's cooked in a terra-cotta jug. We've streamlined the method, but kept all of the smoky, tangy, sweet flavors. The chicken is even better the next day, when the flavors have had a chance to meld. Serve with crusty bread.

Giving foods that glorious crispy- crunchy texture without a deep fryer isn't easy. The best way to healthfully approximate the deep- fried experience is to use panko breadcrumbs, a mist of cooking spray, and a hot oven. Panko is a Japanese ingredient that used to be found only in Asian supermarkets and health- food stores but is now available everywhere. The crumbs are made from crustless bread, so they're lighter and crunchier than traditional breadcrumbs.

There are some high-quality, great-tasting low-fat tomato sauces available on the store shelves these days, so if you don't want to make sauce from scratch (don't tell Mama!), you'd do well with any of the leading brands. But my name is Rocco, after all, and I figured I was under obligation to include at least one from-scratch marinara sauce. There's just a hint of olive oil in it; everything else was bulked up to create great flavor.

This dish isn't a makeover, per se. But there are so many beloved— and believe it or not, unhealthy—seared tuna dishes out there in the restaurant world that I thought I should offer at least one healthy version. The tuna is never the problem. Tuna is rich in nutrients, low in fat, delicious, and just a good bet all around. It's the stuff that's put on top that's the problem—anything from seared foie gras to deep-fried tempura crispies. Sure, it tastes great, but those additions turn a healthful dish into an artery-clogging one.

Make this rich stew on a leisurely weekend. You’ll probably get a good three meals out of it, if you follow some of the suggestions below. When buying stew meat at a supermarket, you don’t always know what you are getting, so ask the butcher. If it’s a lean meat, it will need less time cooking (in fact, it will be ruined if you cook it too long), but the fattier cuts can benefit from at least another half hour.

Here is a sumptuous side dish to accompany roast poultry, for the holidays or otherwise: sautéed mushrooms tossed with chestnuts, tender pearl onions, and thyme. Peeling chestnuts is a painstaking task. To save time, purchase vacuum-packed whole peeled chestnuts.

All sorts of neglected or leftover vegetable bits can be transformed into these lovely, lacy-crisp, colorful tempura pancakes.

This recipe was created by our salumist, Eli Cairo. He says, "Everyone should know how to make a chorizo doughnut!"

This casserole is based loosely on the French home-cooking standard, le miroton. If you fear goatiness, please turn the page. This dish celebrates the sweet carnality of the goat with abandon.

For some, Christmas dinner wouldn't be complete without beef. Here, a decadent prime rib roast is coated in mustard seeds and served with a tangy mustard sauce and sweet-sour onions. Serve with steamed baby carrots.

This is the perfect dish for those who love strong flavors, as the Goan red spice paste (which takes just a few minutes to make) is spicy and vinegary. The onions and tomatoes soften the paste and the curry leaves give it a fantastic flavour. I have written this recipe to serve one person as I always find there are never enough recipes for one, and the whole point of making pastes is to have quick and easy meals for small numbers. You can easily double or triple the quantities as necessary. In addition, you can make the stuffing mixture earlier in the day or even the night before, bringing it back to room temperature before baking. Mackerel is a good fish to use in this dish as it has a strong flavor that can hold its own with the masala.

Not only is our mash low-cal, but it also provides more than a quarter of your daily requirement for cell-building vitamin B6.

The technique: When cooked at a high heat, some vegetables take on a deep, nutty flavor and golden brown color. In this recipe, the sugars in the pomegranate molasses enhance the caramelization process.
The payoff: Caramelized vegetables have that addictive sweet-savory taste and a lovely sheen.

The technique: Cooking veggies over moderate heat for a bit longer than you would for a typical sauté helps meld flavors while retaining texture.
The payoff: Side dishes cooked on the stovetop preserve precious oven space.