Saute

Albóndigas is Spanish for meatballs. Ours are lightened with grated zucchini.

Pumpkin seeds give earthy flavor and lovely color to this side dish.

Cooking the bread pudding in a loaf pan gives it a modern, bakery-style look. For a more decadent dessert, serve with vanilla ice cream.

Vietnamese hybrid sandwiches called banh mi are great for lunch or a casual dinner.

These individual desserts feature layers of tender spiced chiffon muffins; a mix of caramelized apples, pears, and cranberries; and a rich custard laced with apple brandy. To show off the pretty layers, assemble the trifles in clear bowls or dessert glasses. Enjoy the extra muffin for breakfast the next day.

The Middle East on a flatbread: Turkish meatballs, a tahini-spiked yogurt sauce, and muhammara, a Syrian red pepper spread.

A tagine is a Moroccan stew. In this version, tender beef meatballs are braised with vegetables, then served over herbed couscous.

Pear nectar gives the sauce a sweet, luscious finish.

In South Louisiana, any sauce is called gravy. This dish would be our equivalent of biscuits and sausage gravy, except we've got all this seafood down here that finds its way into nearly everything. Serve this gravy over biscuits ) with Oeufs au Plat , and you've really got something. As a chef, I make this a bit more complicated than it needs to be: I start with the shrimp in the pan, then remove them so they don't overcook, and then I add them back once it's all come together.

Editor's note: Serve this veal with Chef John Besh's Jalapeño Cheese Grits . Grillades is a Creole version of pot roast; the meat is sliced or pounded thin, then slow-cooked in a pungent sauce. If veal shoulder isn't available, substitute boneless, sliced Boston butts of pork. Sure, you can use a leaner cut of veal (and if you do, you'll want to cut the cooking time down by half). But I encourage you to find those cheaper cuts of meat that have much more flavor than either the loin or the leg.

Minestra di porri e castagne Piemonte

Casônsèi della Val Camonica Casônsèi dates back to the fourteenth century and is a specialty of Brescia in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. It is also known as casunzièi in Belluno, in the northeastern region of Veneto. The word casônsèi comes from the ancient term "cassoncelle," which probably meant "small caskets." Similar to ravioli, these half-moon-shaped parcels are made of an egg-based dough and can have a variety of fillings. The Renaissance version was bittersweet in taste, combing cinnamon and almonds. In the traditional cuisine of Brescia, casônsèi is typically filled with a mixture of sausage, bread dipped in milk, and grated Parmesan.

Just as custards work well in the savory portion of the meal, although they’re more often served as a dessert, so do bread puddings. This one is a great complement to the Blowtorch Prime Rib Roast and Pan-Roasted Duck Breasts. But you could also top it with Oven-Roasted Tomatoes and serve it as a vegetarian meal.

Bodino Stifado Me Praso Braises like this are perfect for meat with tough muscle tissue and tendons (which come from the part of the animal that works hard), a great example of poverty cooking. This less expensive cut of meat develops its own natural and luscious sauce as it cooks. You want a little marbling in the meat, because it melts down as you cook and adds a lot of flavor to the sauce. You can use brisket, shanks, shoulder—all fairly tough meats—but save the filet mignon for the grill or a pan. It takes a little time to cook and become tender, but it's a relatively easy setup, and once you get it onto the stove you don't have to worry about it for about an hour. So you can do your laundry, or walk the dog, or make a salad. A couple of days later, if you have any leftovers, you can shred the meat, then return the meat to the sauce and add your favorite pasta. The resulting dish is a Greek version of beef Stroganoff. The herbs are very important to the flavor development here, since I'm using water instead of stock, so use fresh herbs if possible.