These toasts rank among the best things I’ve made in a long time. They’re all about layering and balancing bold flavors, which come together in a ridiculously good way. The bagna cauda dressing is loosely based on the one in Nancy Silverton’s Sandwich Book. It’s tempting to just whisk together all of the ingredients, but cooking the garlic and anchovy briefly in olive oil and butter tames the anchovies’ fishiness and the garlic’s bite. Tossing the shredded radicchio and arugula with pecorino before applying the dressing – a nod to Toro Bravo’s Radicchio Salad with Manchego Vinaigrette on this site – makes it adhere better. Probably my favorite thing is how the warm dressing slackens the radicchio and arugula and coats the slices of egg and avocado. The shaved celery may seem superfluous, but it's the perfect foil to the richness of the other ingredients. You can get a lot of mileage from this recipe: serve crostini style at a dinner party, call them tartines if you’re feeling fancy for a light lunch or dinner, pile the salad high between two slices of bread for a sandwich, or serve as a plated salad with toast on the side. Whatever you do, just make plenty because you'll find yourself sneaking bites before it ever hits the plate.

Before discovering Suzanne Goin's slow-cooked Tuscan kale, I thought I knew nearly every possible way to prepare dark leafy greens: sautéed quickly with garlic and red pepper flakes; raw, sliced thinly, and massaged with dressing; and boiled four ways à la Zuni Cafe. But Goin's recipe, which calls for blanching the kale first, then cooking it slowly with sautéed onions for 30 minutes, was unlike any method I had ever tried. The kale essentially cooks until it turns black and is crispy at the edges, and it has become one of my favorite things to eat. The only trouble with the recipe is that it never makes enough -- I can eat a pound of this kale in one sitting. But when it's beefed up with toasted bread crumbs and crispy pancetta, and when it's topped with a poached egg or served over creamy polenta, it starts becoming a meal. Slow-cooked kale is a nice addition to so many dishes from pastas to grain salads to pizza, but it seems to pair particularly well with eggs -- it is delicious tucked into an omelet with feta cheese. Notes: This is my favorite way to prepare/use slow-cooked Tuscan kale, but know the recipe can be adapted to your liking. You can omit the pancetta and use an additional tablespoon of olive oil. You can use crushed red pepper flakes in place of the chile. You can top it with a fried or soft-boiled egg. I've learned not to skimp on the olive oil and to not rush the kale-cooking process — the key is to not stop cooking until the kale is black.

We all need a detox recipe that will give us comfort, not discipline. Hashing combines the best of our favorite brussels sprout techniques -- the loft of a raw shredded salad with the warmth and toasted edges of high-heat roasting or frying. It takes little time or planning to pull off, but gives us a light -- but not too light -- new favorite way to cook brussels sprouts. Recipe from Union Square Café Cookbook (HarperCollins, 1994)

This is essentially a "clean out the fridge and pantry" soup, but with the unifying themes of sweet, red, vegetables and lentils, and warm, spicy Moroccan flavors. Very satisfying on a crisp fall day to match the scenery!