Nut

This beautiful pasta dish features a classic trio of Italian ingredients. Bottled roasted chestnuts make preparation surprisingly quick.

Muhammara — a toasted walnut, roasted red pepper, and cumin sauce — can also be spread on pita toasts.

Shari Ledwidge of Greenehaven, Arizona, writes: "My husband and I spend several weeks each year traveling around the United States. Our journeys always take us to wonderful food stands and farmers' markets, which have inspired some of my favorite recipes."

TREND: Roasted fruit WHO: Diane Rossen Worthington, author of The Taste of the Season: Inspired Recipes for Fall and Winter WHAT: Cooks have known for ages that roasting completely transforms meat and vegetables, taking them to new depths of flavor. Fruit is now getting the treatment, and this winter comfort dessert comes from a cookbook author who really knows about cold-weather cooking.

We have a renewed appreciation for the beauty, taste, and health-giving properties of the pomegranate lately, and its molasses (made by cooking the juice down to a sweet-tart syrup) delivers just what we are looking for in an ingredient these days: bold, clear, complex flavor. Used in this go-with for the chops, it brings new meaning to "sweet-and-sour pork." Pomegranate molasses is available at some supermarkets and Middle Eastern markets and by mail from Adriana's Caravan (800-316-0820; adrianascaravan.com).

Editor's note: This recipe is from Brini Maxwell's Guide to Gracious Living. For Maxwell's tips on throwing a summer pool party, click here. This dish is the perfect chicken for meals out-of-doors. It's good both hot and cold and can be eaten with your fingers without making too much of a mess. It also originated with my mother and has always been a crowd-pleaser in our family. These chicken legs make wonderful leftovers, so don't be afraid to overestimate!

In this recipe adapted from Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook, ground cashews thicken the curry and give it a rich, nutty flavor. Both roasted and raw cashews work well, so use whichever you prefer.

Truite aux Haricots Verts et Amandes Fresh sweet trout with lemony brown butter and crunchy almonds has become one of my favorite Bouchon dishes. We cook and serve trout with the skin and head on, though the head can be removed after cooking. When I see trout on menus, it brings to mind mountain rivers and fresh air; indeed, in inland France trout was traditionally served only in bistros that had access to freshwater fish, in rivers coming down off the Alps. Most of the trout you find, and the trout we use, is farm raised.

Because this dough uses only one egg, it is difficult to make in a smaller quantity. Freeze the extra dough for another time.

Tarte au Citron There are different ways to make a lemon tart. At Bouchon, the French Laundry, and Per Se, we use a sabayon method, in which the eggs are first cooked with the lemon juice and sugar over hot water, then the butter is gradually incorporated — an easy method that results in a consistently good lemon custard or curd. The crust is made with sweet and nutty pine nuts, which I think are the perfect balance for the rich, tart custard.

An elegant terrine with pretty layers of walnut praline and homemade white chocolate ice cream. Do-aheads: praline, 3 days; sauce, 1 day; entire terrine, 3 days.

Use a variety of holiday cookie cutters to make these classic French shortbreads.

This delicious bar cookie comes courtesy of the author's mother and is a nice follow-up to the fondue. The shortbread layer is topped with a very moist apricot-walnut cake layer.