Food Writer Dishes

"Whole-grain pasta is one of the easiest ways to sneak whole grains into your diet," Heidi Swanson says. Her lasagna, made with noodles broken into 1-inch pieces, features a healthy pesto made with walnuts and basil.

Fast Weekday Pastas

Michael Ruhlman, co-author of Thomas Keller's sous vide bible, Under Pressure, likes to drop a Cryovac'd tri-tip straight from the butcher into a water bath.

More Amazing Steaks

For this delicious, mustardy chicken, Jacques Pépin splits the chicken and cuts between the leg and shoulder joints to halve the cooking time.

Many of Madhur Jaffrey's books have an Indian slant, but she's most famous for her 1999 tome Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. While she often follows the Indian tradition of serving several small dishes together, the lentil-vegetable curry here is a Western-style main course. Eaten over rice with yogurt, it's a very satisfying meal.

More Indian Recipes

More Amazing Vegetarian Dishes

New York Times columnist Mark Bittman uses this tangy, salsa-esque Argentinean sauce as a complement to rich skirt steak.

Amazing Steak Recipes

More Great Salads

Although there are innumerable versions of cassoulet, most are based on a stew of white beans and various forms of pork. The dish gets its name from the pot it's traditionally baked in, the cassole (see Note), which is often shaped like a wide inverted cone to insure the greatest amount of luscious crust. This version includes duck confit and the French garlic sausages that are a specialty of Toulouse.

Plus: More Pork Recipes and Tips

Coarsely chopping the pecans makes the pie easy to slice, although David Lebovitz leaves some whole for visual effect.

Beautiful Desserts

This pretty salad from Alice Waters, the iconic chef-owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, is best in the winter, when grapefruit is at its prime.

More Great Salads

Patricia Wells tries to begin as many meals as possible with soup. Soup is generally filling, light and low in fat and calories. Certainly this soup is. Most of us who did not grow up eating grains tend to shy away from them. Here's one way to sneak them in.