Mushroom

Making a fresh-tasting Asian-American meal at home is easier than you think. If you don't have Sherry in the house, you can substitute Scotch.

Who doesn't love toasted cheese? Here it adds tang to a Mediterranean-inspired salad of frisée, broiled bell peppers, and shiitake mushrooms.

Mixing dried porcini with tomato paste is a simple way to omit butter and still keep chicken moist while infusing it with a woodsy mushroom flavor.

There's enough dough for one more pizza, so freeze the extra. The vital wheat gluten flour is high in protein and helps create a chewy crust. It's sold at some supermarkets and natural foods stores. Bread flour will also give great results.

Here, tomatillos become a brilliant green sauce for baked fish.

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.

These crisp golden crêpes, filled with shrimp, pork, and vegetables, are both delicious and fun to eat. Simply wrap each crêpe in a lettuce leaf, tuck in fresh herbs like mint and basil, and dip it in the sweet-and-sour sauce.

Sukiyaki The term comfort food might have been coined for this bowl of rich, home-style broth surrounding thinly cut beef and a selection of Asian vegetables. The traditional accompaniment of beaten egg makes a silky dipping sauce.

Bibimbop A glorious combination of fresh stir-fried vegetables, each cooked separately to allow its flavors to stay true, is liberally seasoned with garlic and sesame oil. To gild the lily, every serving is topped off with a rich fried egg that gets added just before eating.

This recipe was created by chef Mark Franz of Farallon restaurant in San Francisco. It's part of a special menu he created for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program.

Ground dried mushrooms become a flavorful crust for the steaks.

Steam the dumplings in batches and eat them when they're at their best — hot out of the steamer.

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.

This pasta showcases spring produce.

Cheese power: Monterey Jack and parmesan are creamy and smooth, while blue lends a subtle savoriness.

Improv: Replace the mushrooms with diced firm tofu and/or wilted spinach.