Apple

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from David Bouley, Mario Lohninger, and Melissa Clark's book East of Paris: The New Cuisines of Austria and the Danube. Lohninger also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Lohninger and Austrian cooking, click here. David Bouley: Mario and I wanted to put fresh herring on the menu, but we couldn't find a consistent source for the best product from the North Sea. So we came up with this dish using mackerel, an underused fish in this country. When you marinate the raw mackerel, it becomes very mellow in flavor. It's a clean-tasting fish, not a bit "fishy" or strong. We marinate the mackerel in Bibb lettuce and cucumber juices, then mix it with beet and apple for sweetness and a little crunch. It's both light and refreshing.

Healthy bonus: 1 serving of fruit per 1/2 cup of sliced fruit, magnesium, and selenium from nuts, vitamin C from strawberries, fiber from nuts and fruits

This treat is so sweet (even though we've eliminated half the sugar), you won't need to serve it à la mode.

Jada Pinkett-Smith gets a lean, muscle-building protein kick from these marinated turkey skewers, which she recently served at a luau and which come from her personal chef, Bernie Guzman.

Wrapper's delight: two paper pouches, eight shrimp, 10 minutes — dinner! Take a lowfat cooking tip from French-born Alain Ducasse, whose New York City restaurant, Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, is among the world's swankiest. Ducasse has perfected a simple method of cooking in a paper pouch, which uses trapped steam — not fat — to seal in flavor. In this recipe he teams shrimp with apples and cheese for a trio of seductive tastes. Tuck the ingredients into parchment-paper hearts, pop them in the oven and prepare to fall in love.

Saturday lunch. From Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona. Go ahead and pack it in: This chicken salad tastes deceptively creamy, but unlike the old-fashioned mayo-drenched variety, it is held together with tangy nonfat yogurt. The sweet and spicy flavor is a pleasure for your palate, and the flavonoids in the grapes are a boon to the heart.

Beware of packaging announcing a product is "100 percent wheat" — this designation can be used on foods made with refined wheat flour. To be sure of a product's nutritional value, read labels carefully: The first ingredient should be a whole-grain product. Check the fiber content — if the product doesn't contain a minimum of three grams per slice, you are probably dealing with an impostor.

Sous chef John D. Martin pairs crisp, tart Granny Smith apples with a rich yet fluffy cake that has a crumbly texture.

Selma Hurwitz of Potomac, Maryland, writes: "I'm an artist, and I think that without question cooking is very creative. You can't be afraid to experiment in the kitchen. I often get ideas from cookbooks and recipes from friends, and I'll add my own touches. The apple cake is inspired by a cookbook from Michigan — I just added more rum and spices. Both recipes are great for company and freeze beautifully."

Without the ice cream and served warm, these make a great brunch dish.

Baker's sugar, a favorite of pastry chefs, is also called superfine sugar. It measures the same as regular but dissolves more quickly. It's available at some supermarkets. You can also make your own by whizzing granulated sugar in a food processor until powdery.

In this recipe, simple pantry ingredients come together to make a homey cake that's so tender and moist, you'll be fighting over the last piece.

This slight variation on traditional Ashkenazi charoset calls for deep-frying the walnuts and coating them with sugar. The nuts stay crispier in the final product and have a pleasant, toasty flavor.

Silky smooth and with a crunchy topping, this seductive soup packs a range of flavors — earthy, smoky, and tart-sweet. If you decide to omit the bacon, substitute 1 tablespoon butter when you cook your vegetables.