Saute

Tarragon leaves and meaty morel caps shoot up all over the Jura mountains in the spring. Here, tossed with juicy green and white asparagus — Europeans are particularly mad for the latter — they're a genuine sampling of the season.

Char Kway Teow These slightly sweet, salty rice noodles, with lots of garlic and a hint of heat, are a popular street food in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. There's a bit of chopping involved, but the ingredients are remarkably easy to put together.

Bahmi goreng You'll be hard-pressed to refuse seconds of this irresistible stir-fry. Tender Chinese egg noodles, crisp green snow peas, and Chinese long beans mingle with plenty of rich, garlicky sauce. Cubes of tofu and shredded omelet add even more texture.

Who needs takeout? You can make tender sirloin beef tips and broccoli in a velvety soy glaze just as fast yourself.

We've made this colorful dish using fresh cooked rice instead of leftover takeout. There's plenty here for a hearty breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

A seasonal abundance of peas means more for everyone. This easy side dish keeps them snappy and fresh with aromatic tarragon and lemon zest.

The spice in this dish from Jennifer Maeng, executive chef at Korean Temple Cuisine in New York City, adds more than taste. A compound found in red-hot pepper may also rev up your metabolism. Wok star!

A serrated kinpira peeler ($15 online at amazon.com) makes quick work of a carrot-and-celery julienne.

This recipe was created by chef Michael Kornick of MK Restaurant in Chicago. It's part of a special menu he created for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program.

This recipe, from nutritionist Karen Fisher at Deerfield Spa, provides ideal amounts of carbs, fat and protein. If you're going to be active, simply add 1/2 cup more pasta.

Enjoy generous portions of this low-calorie dish from Red Mountain Spa's executive chef Chad S. Luethje.

This pasta showcases spring produce.

In this dish, the mint pesto says spring every bit as much as the carrots do.

Baby beets, which are roughly the size of a large marble, are sweeter than mature beets and cook more quickly.

Editor's note: This recipe is adapted from chef Paul Flynn of The Tannery in Dungarvan, Ireland. Wild salmon, once so plentiful in Ireland that domestic servants could stipulate in their contracts that they should not have to eat it more than three times per week, has now become a luxury item on both sides of the Atlantic. However, when top-notch fish is available, this simple preparation is a great way to showcase it. The compound butter, with its use of raisins, harks back to the dried fruits popular in the Middle Ages, and the capers show the fondness of contemporary Irish cooks for Mediterranean flavors. Irish butter, with its high fat content, will add a particularly rich flavor, but regular American butter can be substituted.

>Editor's note: The recipe below is from Govind Armstrong's Small Bites, Big Nights and is part of a special menu he created for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program.

Cooking cucumbers takes them out of the salad realm, transforming them into a side dish that's perfect with fish or white meat. Perked up with mint and lemon, they're as refreshing as ever.