Starter

Cooking the livers to medium/medium-rare in this recipe is key to a moist and rich tasting spread. Overcooking them will make the finished dish dry and crumbly.

Apple and cheddar met on a cheese board, realized they both dreamed of someday turning into a deep-fried doughnut, and ran off to do just that.

Tarator is usually made with tahini, but the base for this recipe is almonds. It serves as both a binder for the rice cakes and as a sauce.

We’ll be spreading membrillo (quince paste) inside bread for grilled cheese from now on. This recipe is from Morcilla, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

The aromatic sweetness of the vanilla complements the sharp blue cheese and smoky-spicy sausage, and, since we doubt you’re curing your own chorizo, it’s the single handmade element on this tapas plate. This recipe is from Morcilla, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

Topping this modern tartare with groats adds an earthy note, but they’re mostly there for texture. A coarse toasted breadcrumb can be subbed. This recipe is from Wildair, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

Granted, this is a bit of work for a salad, but that’s how to transform vegetables into brag-worthy ingredients. To simplify, you could char the beets and greens in a dry cast-iron skillet. This recipe is from Oberlin, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

Frying ukoy the Bad Saint way is a very active process­—the fritter will blow apart in the oil before you tease it back together. Use a tall pot with plenty of extra room since the oil will bubble vigorously when the mix hits it.

Even so-so tomatoes will become sweet and deliciously concentrated after this treatment. 

This is made with house-pickled herring at Oberlin, but smoked trout is equally delicious as an ­anchovy alt. If you can’t get kohlrabi, try this same scenario on romaine. This recipe is from Oberlin, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

This has become a Staplehouse all-star. We simplified it a bit, setting it in jars rather than the buttery pastry crust it’s served in at the restaurant. Don’t worry: We didn’t mess with the shamelessly high ratio of butter and cream to liver.

This creamy almond dip would be a terrific and unexpected pairing with any vegetable crudité. This recipe is from Lord Stanley, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

If you don’t have a stand mixer, shred the cooked meat with two forks and then mix it vigorously with a wooden spoon to combine with the other ingredients. This recipe is from Wildair, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

This ingenious way to prepare sweet potatoes will make you take back every bad word you ever said about them. This recipe is from Lord Stanley, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

Great chefs take great pride in turning humble vegetables into world-class dishes. Which is something you ought to remind yourself of while simmering sesame seeds for 2 hours to make a sauce for this cauliflower. This recipe is from Staplehouse, America's Best New Restaurant 2016.

Sprouting and frying the sunflower seeds completely transforms their flavor. But just using salted, roasted sunflower seeds would also work fine. This recipe is from Staplehouse, America's Best New Restaurant 2016.

Persimmons stand in for ripe tomato in this caprese-ish salad, and if you haven’t had them before, they’re worth trying. Before you buy, things to know: The squat fuyu persimmon lacks the tannins that define their pointy-bottomed counterpart, the hachiya variety. While fuyus can be eaten when slightly underripe (they’ll be crunchy), the hachiya needs to be dead ripe or else it will be insufferably bitter. This recipe is from Wildair, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

Set this up on Sunday and have tapas at home when you get back from work, all week long. This recipe is from Morcilla, one of the Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.

When you're working with chiles, you should be wearing rubber gloves. Sound funny? Well, it won't after you accidentally touch your eyes.

Watermelon and prosciutto may seem like an unlikely pair, but the salty-sweet mix will make this your new go-to fruit salad.

Once you get hooked on fresh chiles, you'll want to pack them into everything you cook—including your antipasto.

A cool green zingy soup; pack it in a thermos on ice and take it picnicking or to the beach.

Our homage to lahmacun, the Middle Eastern flatbread.

Carrots: Will they hummus? This recipe proves they will, in the most resounding, confident way.