Chef Way: Maffeo's noodle salad gets flavor from dried shrimp and a tomato jam made with fresh tomatoes and Thai chiles. Easy Way: Asian fish sauce replaces dried shrimp; the tomato jam is a quick combo of canned tomatoes, vinegar and sugar. more »

'Butternut squash and apples come into season around the same time in Vermont,' Silansky says, 'and they go so well together.' But this soup's key ingredient is its smoked-cheddar garnish. Silansky gets his cheese from Grafton Village Cheese Company, a lo more »

This recipe makes enough dough for one 9 1/2-inch deep-dish, double-crust pie. more »

This lemony, minty salad dresses up grilled poultry or lamb particularly well. A rich duck breast also matches the lemon nicely. For added flavor, toss in some thinly sliced preserved lemons with the fresh lemon. more »

Lachlan created this ultra rich hot chocolate topped with coconut cream for his partner Bobby Stuckey's wife, Danette, who has a sweet tooth. 'At Frasca, we make a lot of desserts with chocolate or coconut, so we just kept going and came up with this drin more »

Lachlan considers this emerald - colored condiment to be Italy's quintessential dipping sauce. He serves the rich basil parsley salsa, flavored with piquant cornichons and capers, with everything from bread sticks and grilled vegetables to roasted meat an more »

This riff on fiery Massaman curry, commonly cooked in a clay pot with potatoes and peanuts, combines coconut milk, Asian fish sauce and judicious amounts of bottled Thai red curry paste (made with red chiles, shrimp paste, garlic and ginger) to create a p more »

Silansky likes to serve the lamb shanks with creamy polenta made from local cornmeal and a local cheese: Thistle Hill Farm's complex, nutty Tarentaise. more »

Because Brussels sprouts are slightly bitter, Nischan likes to pair them with something sweet: dried cranberries that have been plumped in off-dry Riesling. 'I don't like to overdress vegetables,' he explains. 'It takes just one counterpoint to bring the more »

Condiments are one of a locavore's biggest challenges. 'Just to make a simple salad dressing, you have to find some local vinegars and mustard,' Sampson says. 'You can't use soy sauce or rice vinegar, so forget about Asian food.' Sampson relies on farm fr more »

The Good News: Cottage cheese is a low-fat way to keep lean turkey meat loaf moist. At Gamba's restaurants, he cuts even more fat by cooking the meat loaves sous-vide. more »

Chef Way: For this crunchy, nutty salad, Bastianich likes to use dandelion greens, which aren't always easy to find. Easy Way: Arugula stands in for the elusive dandelion greens. more »

F&W's Grace Parisi makes brilliant use of Brie here. After removing the rind from the cheese, she combines it with the pasta cooking water to make a rich, silky sauce for the fettuccine. more »