Chris Hall

These are simple, lovely to look at, and a revelation for anyone who thinks of Brussels sprouts as those evil little grey-green globes.

My children were unusually enthusiastic about the idea of a cinnamon-apple crumble-topped pie. However, when we scanned the ingredients, our eagerness suffered a blow: the recipe calls for raisins. Not just raisins, but a whole cup of raisins.

This recipe is so good, so easy, and lends itself to so many delicious modifications, that I may have to change the way I think about soups altogether.

While there are many things to like—even to admire—in the BA pot pie recipe (and I'll get to those in a minute), there are elements that irritate me. But my family had no such complaints; they devoured them happily, as if this was what I had intended all along.

I loved the flavor of these pancakes. The sweetness and crunch of the cornmeal, combined with good, slightly warm maple syrup, evoked a crisp New England morning in Fall when the leaves are starting to turn.

There was dabbing of plates and licking of fingers. Not only would I make these again, but I can think of all sorts of other, wonderful ways to prepare them.

I think the events of the last couple of weeks deserve a signature cocktail. I have here a modest offering to commemorate the recent financial meltdown: The Old-Fashioned Bail Out.

This is a technique that I plan to use at home very soon in my repertoire of stopgap meals; the perfect quick, easy, and delicious dish to whip up on a moment's weeknight notice.

This recipe—like a lot of Mexican-inspired cooking—allows you to invest as much time and energy as you are willing to devote, or you can skip over whole sections with shortcuts (buy prepared green salsa, used canned chile strips, grab a rotisserie chicken).

I learned a little something this week when I made the Bon Appetit brownie recipe. Are you sitting down? Made-from-scratch brownies taste much better than the ones that you make from a box.

Dear Gazpacho: I'm so sorry to have to say this, but I think we should see other cold soups. But it's not you—really, it's me.

Here are the things I have learned definitively from BA's smoked brisket recipe: A gas grill can be used as a smoker—in the same way that a colander can be used to hold water—and a whole brisket is a fearsomely large amount of meat.

This recipe has several immediate advantages. It's simple; it requires minimal preparation apart from stemming and halving the little tomatoes; most of the time is devoted to roasting rather than prep (allowing more time to test-drive the dinner wine); and it calls for ingredients that I am likely to already have on hand.

I have to confess that I had never cooked striped bass before—in fact, I don't think I had ever eaten it prior to this recipe.

Now, I'm not here to be a shill for Bon Appetit—if a recipe is a dud I'm not going to let it pass without comment. And I wrote a critical post of this gelato, but then, something very interesting happened in my fridge....

Why are those incredible fries at your favorite burger joint impossible to replicate? Here's one thing to consider: They aren't starting out with fresh frying oil every morning.

When the assignment first came down, I thought this would be a classic moules meuniere (butter, shallots, white wine, herbs), so I was a little taken aback to find the Mexican (or at least Southwestern) slant to the preparation. And I got another surprise when I read the fries recipe...

So you didn't make enough dough and, as you (hilariously) said, it sat on the pie filling like a yarmulke. But I think the real problem was cutting the fat into the flour for the crust. This step is the trickiest part of pie.

My long history of pie-failure fell off me as I lifted this golden beauty from the oven. The crust was perfection. I think I've found my standard pie dough recipe.

To be honest, I made two batches, as you can see from my photos; one with the barest amount of that tomatillo base in it, and the other mixed with the tomato/serrano salsa, which was quite good. The tomatillo guac was hardly touched.