This Bon Appetit recipe would be a great side to bring to a summer BBQ or to have as a light weeknight meal. It's also easy to prep in advance.

1 cup almonds
1 cup fregola, Israeli couscous, or whole grain of your choice
3 ears of corn, husked
2 tablespoons plus ¼ cup olive oil, divided
16 ounces Halloumi cheese, sliced lengthwise ¾-inch thick
3 scallions, thinly sliced
½ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup basil leaves
¼ cup mint leaves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

I wouldn't necessarily make this again if I didn't have pumpkin puree in need of a home. But it was a great use for a bag of frozen pumpkin puree! Mildly adapted from Food and Wine.

1 pound lasagna noodles
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for tossing
1 onion, finely chopped
2 pounds Swiss chard, stems discarded and leaves chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Three 15-ounce cans pumpkin puree (or whatever is lying around in your freezer!)

Courtesy of Cowgirl Creamery. Could easily be made vegetarian.

Ingredients
1 lb. Andouille Sausage - small diced
1 medium Onion - small diced
3 stalks Celery - small diced
1 lb. Cremini Mushrooms - small diced
1 Tbsp. Garlic - minced
2 Tbsp. Thyme - chopped
1 lb. Stale Bread - large diced
6 Eggs
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 cup Chicken Stock
4 oz. Cowgirl Creamery Crème Fraiche (plus more for serving)
8 oz. Cowgirl Creamery Wagon Wheel - grated
Salt & Pepper - to taste
1/8 lb. Butter
1 bunch Chives - thinly sliced

2 ripe Fuyu persimmons (wide, tomato/pumpkin shaped)
3 tablespoons Roughly Chopped Toasted Hazelnuts or walnuts
2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
balsamic vinegar or pomegranate molasses, for drizzling, optional
Maldon sea salt or other flaky sea salt, for garnish
1 piece fresh burrata cheese

Thinly slice persimmon and distribute on a plate. Serve with burrata (or sliced fresh mozzarella), and nuts, pomegranite seeds sprinkled on top, lightly drizzle with olive oil.

Via http://saltandwind.com/recipes/417-persimmon-carpaccio-burrata-r...

For Crust (enough for two crusts - note, Jon finds this recipe difficult to work with, especially when doubled, and would consider using a different crust recipe next time)
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

For Quiche:
5 large eggs
3 heads of garlic, cloves peeled
Kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
dash nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper

Easy and delicious Bon Appetit recipe. Also keeps well in the fridge for several days and, in some ways, improves over time.

4 ears of corn, husked
1 large shallot, thinly sliced into rings
1 red chile (BA recommends Holland or Fresno, but a Jalapeño will do), optionally deseeded, thinly sliced into rings
¼ cup fresh lime juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 oz. fresh Cotija cheese or queso fresco, crumbled
¼ cup cilantro leaves with tender stems

Courtesy of Cook's Illustrated.

No real recipe here; we used, from the bottom up:

1. leftover refried pinto beans
2. Shredded cheese
3. guacamole
4. sour cream
5. pico de gallo
6. Olives (optional)

...and layered them in a flat-bottomed glass dish. The pico counts as two layers. Really.

16 ounces ricotta (about 2 cups)
1 large egg, beaten to blend
1 large egg yolk, beaten to blend
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan or Grana Padano plus more
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt plus more
1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus more

3 cups Pomodoro Sauce or other sauce

We put together a simple-but-wonderful Neapolitan style pizza, largely following this SeriousEats recipe, as most other recipes required a wood burning oven or breaking your home oven's cleaning cycle lock.

Ingredients

• Pizza dough for 2 10" rounds
• 14 oz can of whole San Marzano tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 medium-large balls of fresh buffalo mozzarella
• Good quality olive oil
• Fresh basil leaves

This recipe is a hybrid of Sharon's recipe and and a very intense online recipe. My guess is that both are derived from the Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Serves 6. Bakes in a 9x9 pan.

Meat sauce:

Cook and stir together until meat is brown and onion is tender:

• 3 Italian sausages (approx 0.5 lbs, mixed between mild and spicy; can substitute ground beef for all or part)
• ½ cup chopped onions
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup sliced mushrooms

In 2010, we attended a Oaxacan dinner as part of the annual Literary Feast on Capitol Hill. One of the dishes we ate was goat cheese, corn, and bean enchiladas with mole sauce. It was really delicious, and I finally got around to recreating it.

I made a tweaked version of this Bon Appetit recipe. It was good, especially from a mac and cheese perspective - gooey and all the rest of that. I'm not sure how I actually felt about the spicy pimiento cheese aspect of it. Perhaps next time I will downplay the spicy pimiento and just use the basic recipe as a base for a more traditional mac and cheese dish.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

This recipe is meant to replicate an amazing quiche I had at La Galette, in downtown Dakar, served as a 6" quiche with a green salad on the side.

1 pastry shell (use the pastry crust from the tomato tart recipe.

4oz st nectaire (soft, ripened cheese) without the rind
3oz chevre
1oz blue d'Auvergne or Roquefort (optional)
2oz of grated emmental cheese
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

Adapted from a recipe we found online, this flatbread or pizza is easy to make and tasty. Cut it into small squares to serve at a party.

Garides (Shrimp) Saganaki is one of Audrey's favorite dishes (though no longer on the menu) at Zaytinya, one of her favorite restaurants in DC. This recipe is a surprisingly easy replica of that dish. It's fast and can be made mostly with ingredients we already have in our kitchen.

An excellent salsa verde recipe, and a nice shrimp recipe. We made it as tacos instead.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shrimp-and-Cotija-Enchilada...

An excellent alternative to beef burgers! Mix feta in with the meat for easier "cheeseburger" preparation.

http://www.thehungrymouse.com/home/2009/06/17/lamb-sliders-with-...

Makes 2 12" round pizzas.

This was the first recipe Jon learned from his Mom, because, damn it's good pizza!

Dough

make about 2 1/2 hours before serving

• 1 package active dry yeast (2.25 tsp)
• About 4 1/2 c. all purpose flour (have 6 c available for kneading/rolling)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 c. water

In large bowl, combine yeast, 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. In small saucepan, heat water until very warm (120 to 130F.).