Easy

Editor's note: Use this recipe to make Rawia Bishara's Eggplant Napoleon . The first time I ever tasted pesto, I was hooked. I remember the first meal I made using it like it was yesterday—linguini tossed with pesto, topped with fried eggplant and served with fresh home-baked bread. When I use pesto this way, as a sauce, I generally make it with pine nuts. If I'm going to incorporate it into a dish, I use almonds, which are less expensive.

Almonds are the new breadcrumbs. Their toasty flavor and crunch add just the right contrast to pasta.

Cans of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are available in the Mexican food section of most grocery stores. You'll need to puree some for this recipe.

MAKING BREAKFAST SAUSAGE is an old family tradition for us. My grandpa's family used to raise their own hogs, and when it came time for butchering day, they made sure that nothing went to waste. All parts of the animal were used—for hams, bacon, lard, and sausage. My grandpa was in charge of making the breakfast sausage—a tradition he passed on to us. Breakfast sausage is a loose sausage that hasn't been cured, which makes it appropriate for a home cook. My grandpa's recipe was typically Texan in that it was seasoned with sage. While there is nothing finer than a basic breakfast sausage, I find it's an excellent base for other flavors, such as the smoky notes of bacon and smoked paprika and bittersweet tones of molasses. This isn't exactly my grandpa's breakfast sausage, but I'm sure he would have enjoyed it just fine.

Kosher Status: Pareve I much prefer baking my gefilte fish as opposed to the traditional method of boiling. I just don't like how the words "boiled fish" sound, but that of course is neither here nor there. Boiled gefilte fish (blech, again!) can get really soggy and waterlogged, depending on how long you leave it in the pot and the level of your heat. I find baking always produces a firmer-textured, tastier gefilte.

Kosher Status: Poultry Cooking doesn't have to be difficult or complicated, and it doesn't need to use lots of ingredients to be perfect. The better cook you are, the quicker you learn that. Here's one recipe that proves it.

This soup is what Mayim makes when she thinks she has nothing left in the house. It's an "everything but the kitchen sink" soup and can be as simple or complicated as you like. The main point is once you start with sautéed onion and garlic, it's hard to go wrong.