Quick

Pop a few of these to feel lively all night long—they supply energizing iron and protein. And capsaicin, the compound that gives chiles their fire, may kick up your metabolism.

Party food can peel off pounds! These Spanish peppers could help you drop a size. We use goat cheese instead of traditional manchego to slash fat. Plus, two peppers deliver a third of your daily vitamin C needs, and C has been shown to increase fat burning during exercise.

My Nana was quite a baker, as I found out while I was writing Cherries in Winter: My Family's Recipe for Hope in Hard Times. But these simple, delicious cookies became a staple around my house precisely because I'm not a whiz in the kitchen! They're a perfect "basic" cookie—they're easy to make and great with tea at mid-morning or in the afternoon, or as dessert. Around the holidays, they make a lovely, inexpensive gift when you put them in a pretty tin.

Adapted from Pichet Ong's P*ONG restaurant in New York. Aleppo pepper is a Syrian red pepper with a bit of smokiness and just a faint touch of heat.

From piña coladas to rum and coconut water, the fruit of the coco palm seems a natural pairing with the elixir of the cane reed. Here is a different twist on the rum and coconut theme—one that can be made in a larger quantity and kept on the sideboard or the bar until ready to serve. It only gets better.

Soon after the invention of the home blender, the machines were whirring about turning out all manner of cocktails including a raft of fruit-infused daiquiris. It might seem that strawberries are not Caribbean fruit, but anyone who has traveled to Haiti knows that in Kenskoff in the hills above Port-au-Prince and Petionville, the climate is cool enough to support strawberries and they grow there—small, sweet, and delicious.

This savory, fresh, and colorful drink was inspired by Adam Seger of Nacional 27. It has its roots in the Bloody Mary but skips the vodka, subbing in cachaça, a distant cousin of rum. Raid the summer garden for cherry tomatoes and basil in season!

What a fantastic barbecue side: It's juicy, crunchy, and bright enough to provide delicious relief even from your richest dishes, and substantial enough to stand in for starchy sides like potatoes. I add a ton of marjoram and dill, but chives and basil taste amazing, too.

This one's a backyard party classic that I've put a new spin on. To protect those delicate, sugar-sweet kernels, I grill each cob in its husk. Then toward the end of cooking, I peel the husk back and let the corn develop just a bit of tasty char. As if this weren't lovely enough, I bring it all up a notch with a cilantro pesto (use basil or parsley if you prefer) and plenty of butter.

When I developed this recipe, there were many arguments among the tasters, otherwise known as my friends, about whether or not it was too spicy. Some people liked the kick and others did not. I like it spicy, but if you want less heat, lay off the chiles: use one chile instead of two. Serve the ceviche with tortilla chips for a play on texture. I recommend using aquacultured bay scallops for this dish as they are grown and harvested sustainably. Bay scallops are in season from October to January. It's also perfectly acceptable to buy frozen scallops and defrost them; the dish will be just as successful.

This is a lovely dish to serve with grilled pita bread, either alongside a couple of other mezze, while you have a drink before supper, or as an appetizer in its own right, or as a light lunch with a good salad on the side. In the summer, please use fresh peas; at all other times of year the wondrous frozen pea will do. You can make this dish in advance, put it in the fridge, and bring it back to room temperature when you want it.

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.

Chimay "À La Bière" cheese is a Belgian smooth semisoft cheese that is washed with Chimay beer. It has a pungent aroma and mild flavor. Look for it in specialty cheese shops or on amazon.com or igourmet.com, or try another cheese with a beer-washed rind, such as German Temptin cheese.

These vegetables are served as an on-table condiment at Chez Navarre. They are also great served side by side on their own or with beef or pork.

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.

This subtly spicy mayo is great on fish and sandwiches—and on fries, too.

Leftovers are best a day after cooking the fish.

Mixed-olive tapenade is available in the refrigerated deli section of many supermarkets. Use a version that is chopped, not smooth.