Tarragon oil - one of my little secret weapons. Use it as a finishing oil on soups, as a component of anything bread-centric, and as a vinaigrette base. It's vibrant green with grassy anise notes, and just the sort of thing to keep on hand.

I call this magic sauce. In part, because it makes everything it touches shimmy with deliciousness. It's magic like that. Technically, it's a riff on a chimichurri sauce - one that has veered off the rails in a big way.

A cake I made for the Kim Boyce potluck at 18 Reasons - Incredibly moist, golden-crumbed, flecked with rosemary, and dotted with big and small chocolate chunks, I'd make this again in a heartbeat.

An impromptu freezer cleaning inspired this huge pot of ribollita. It's a thick Tuscan stew - dark greens, lots of beans, vegetables, olive oil, thickened with day-old bread.

A porcini mushroom soup recipe made from seven ingredients including potatoes and porcini mushrooms in an intensely flavorful broth peppered with rosemary and tiny pools of golden olive oil. Great with a big chunk of garlic bread.

A jewel-inspired holiday salad recipe - mixed leafy salad greens, wild rice, toasted hazelnuts, dried figs and pluots, tossed with a simple ginger juice vinaigrette that I spiked with just a hint of jalapeno.

A favorite green bean recipe - dill, green beans, leeks, salt and olive oil. That's it - five ingredients, one skillet - tasty green beans.

A vibrant, colorful Campagnian summer stew from the new A16: Food + Wine cookbook. It features zucchini, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, fennel, and other ingredients braised in olive oil.

A tasty, quick, and easy stir-fry recipe featuring golden crusted, pan-fried chickpeas, chopped kale, summer squash, tofu, and a bit of lemon zest.

A unique and flavor-packed pasta recipe. Whole wheat pasta noodles, olives, kale, pine nuts tossed in a pan for a tangle with a garlic-charged harissa and olive oil sauce.

A savory, summertime ricotta cheesecake recipe made with shredded zucchini, dill, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. Perfect picnic fare.

This cracker recipe makes thin, snappy, rustic crackers - sturdy enough to stand up to a hearty dip. The technique is simple and straightforward (utilizing just a few ingredients) and the dough is a welcoming canvas to all manner of seeds, salts, cheeses, spices, or flavored oils that you might want to use as accents.

Vegan Caesar salad recipe from best-selling authors Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero - no eggs, no dairy. Delicious, creamy lemon-caper dressing and garlic croutons.

This skillet smashed potato recipe make delicious, golden-crusted potatoes. With a bit of prep you can boil them off (pre-cook) the night before. They come together in just a few minutes just as you are ready to serve the rest of your breakfast or brunch.

This millet bake recipe is a largely hands-off, winter squash-based casserole that uses golden millet, baked squash, pumpkin seeds and jewel-toned cranberries. A perfect Thanksgiving recipe for those of you collecting ideas.

This fettuccine recipe was inspired one of the many trips I made to the Testaccio Market while in Rome. Fresh ribbons of pasta with olive oil, porcini mushrooms, garlic, black pepper, and pecorino cheese.

Carrots tossed in a honey-kissed orange dressing, punctuated by toasted pine nuts, black olives and a hint of cumin.

This favorite, stunning, vibrant pesto recipe was taught to me by my friend Francesca's mother who came to visit recently - handchopped basil, garlic, Parmesan, olive oil and pinenuts.

My favorite mashed potato recipe - creamy mashed potatoes flecked with finely chopped greens and garlic. Adding a green like kale, and golden threads of drizzled olive oil is a great way to add color and nutritional umph to America's favorite starch-packed side dish.

The ultimate noodle soup recipe - imagine garbanzo beans bobbing about in a rich broth with thick ribbons of pasta noodles weaving in between them, droplets of olive oil suspended on the surface of the broth, and the whole thing punctuated with crisped fresh pasta that had been fried in olive oil.