Ways

Not a recipe. A technique. A really simple, basic one that makes every pasta dish superior. Try this next time it's pasta time at your house. Better, richer flavor for any sauce you use. For no extra cost and just two extra minutes of your time.

Daal bhaat tarkari: lentils, rice, curried vegetables. The staple meal of Nepal and much of India. Fragrant curry and Better Cheaper protein. An easy and delicious way into the flavor and health benefits of beans and grains.

You have to try this. It's amazingly delicious and ridiculously easy. Tastes and smells like great barbecue. Melts in your mouth. Kathy says it's "awesome" - and she doesn't usually eat stuff like this or use words like that. You won't believe how I made this.

The scent of bread baking in your oven. The sense of something great happening right in your own kitchen. Like this wildly fragrant and puffy Indian bread, naan. Soft, chewy, buttery. Twenty cents to make one that serves two.

Lightly breaded, pan-fried cod. Easy, foolproof. Turns out perfectly on the first try. The lightest bread and egg white crust that's paper-thin and crackling crisp. And it keeps the fish tender and juicy. Almost any fish: bass, trout or catfish will work just as well.

But cook it Slow. Low heat makes fluffy eggs. Leftover risotto conspires with eggs to make an easy, delicious meal. Soft but firm, mushroom-infused rice and juicy mushrooms surrounded by light, fluffy egg. Yum.

Earthy, juicy mushrooms coated with sweet, pungent, garlicky basil. A perfect winter pizza. Mushrooms: fresh every day, all year. Basil: fresh from your windowsill or a market. Or fresh-frozen from your summer garden and ready to thaw. For this light, luscious, aromatic pizza.