Hank Shaw is back, tempting us with pumpkin ricotta gnocchi. It's crazy good, and actually not as hard as you would think to make. Enjoy! ~Elise

Pumpkin ravioli with brown butter and sage is a classic for a reason: The color, the texture and the flavors of winter squash, fried sage and browned butter are a match made in heaven. But making ravioli requires a fair bit of skill. Gnocchi, however, are easy to make once you get the hang of it.

The key to making any dumplings is to make them as light as possible. We've all had leaden lumps of unhappiness before; they're memorable, and not in a good way. What keeps these gnocchi fluffy are the ricotta cheese and a light hand with the flour. Gnocchi dough is often sticky, and it's the ability to resist the urge to keep adding more and more flour that separates a good dumpling from a heavy one.

Homemade stock almost always tastes better than boxed or canned, and this is never more true than with vegetable stock. In the case of chicken or beef stock, the stock comes from cooking bones in water on low heat, for several hours. With vegetable stock, there are no bones to cook, so the richness of the stock comes from the variety of vegetables you use. It helps to brown the veggies first, so the stock gets infused with some of the flavors from caramelization. Unlike chicken or beef stock, which needs time to extract all the goodness from the bones, with vegetable stock, you cook the stock for only an hour to an hour and half. Beyond that, the flavors begin to disintegrate.

Edamame (eh-dah-MAH-may) are nothing more than fresh soy beans. Typically cooked in heavily salted water, they are usually found in the shell served at Japanese restaurants. Having first encountered them in bars when I lived in Japan, I've always thought of them as the Japanese version of a beer nut—they're salty and go great with beer. They've recently become more popular in the states and you can usually easily find them frozen, both shelled and shell-on. They are rather tasty beans, so I thought we would make a simple bean dip with them. So good! This dip includes cilantro, lime juice, yogurt, and a whole avocado. Also just a little bit of Tabasco and dark sesame oil for some sparkle.

Chicken soup doesn't need to take hours to make. This is a simple, light chicken soup that is richly flavored with shiitake mushrooms, and brightened with fresh ginger and soy sauce. The stock is very light, and comes just from the cooking of the ingredients for less than half an hour. But the combination of the ginger, chicken, mushrooms, soy sauce and a touch of salt and sugar is just lovely, and I highly recommend trying this soup. The recipe is an adaptation of one I discovered in a most curious cookbook, The Cultural Revolution Cookbook by Sasha Gong and Scott Seligman. One doesn't usually think of this rather painful period of Chinese history, when millions of Chinese urban youth, children of "intellectuals," were forced into the countryside to work as farmers, for its culinary legacy. But during this period, people learned to make do, and to create nourishing, satisfying food from simple, local ingredients.

My dad is a meat and potatoes person. And as such, you can almost always count on potatoes as part of the dinner meal at our home, most often boiled. Usually I skip them (more for dad) in favor of something green. The other day though, my mother made a cheesy boiled potato dish that I couldn't stop eating. The star ingredient? Jalapeño pepperjack cheese. Melty, stringy, spicy, peppery cheese. Melt the cheese over russet or Yukon gold boiled potatoes and then douse with a little cream. Fabulous!

A little while ago, on a visit to Annisquam, Massachusetts, my friends Ann and Nick hosted an "Impress the Food Blogger" dinner at their home. Guests were encouraged to bring a favorite dish, and we all got to vote on what we thought would be a hit on the site. The evening was a blast, the votes were tallied, and the winning dish? This caramelized onion tart, or pizza as it was called, brought by Ann's friends Jeff and Marilyn. I've made this tart several times since I first had it, and it's one of those dishes you want to limit to special occasions, because it's really hard to stop eating, it's that good. Crispy, pillowy puff pastry, with balsamic caramelized onions, topped with sprinklings of gorgonzola, brie, and tarragon.

Chicken liver pâté. Looks atrocious. Tastes great.

In fact, this is one of those instances where you pity the fool who refuses to eat something because it doesn't look appetizing. And then you're secretly happy because that means there's more for you. (By the way, the secret to serving or photographing unattractive food? Put it on a pretty plate.)

A family favorite meal around here is steak, salsa, and beans, often served with some warmed fresh corn tortillas on the side. Usually the beans for this ensemble are refried beans, but this week we decided to serve the beans whole, and dress them up a bit with pan roasted jalapeños, onions, and bacon. So good! And quick and easy too. Sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro to serve.

Winter took its sweet time coming to Northern California this year, but it did finally arrive, and here we are with long, chilly nights and frost-kissed mornings. Perfect weather for a warming bowl of pot pie. There is the classic chicken pot pie of course. But with the holidays we thought we might try our hand at a turkey pot pie made with cooked turkey, a perfect dish for holiday leftovers. This turkey pot pie has a Cajun twist, starting with the trinity of onions, celery and green bell peppers, and spiced up a bit with Cajun seasoning. It's topped with a flaky, buttery crust, which is in my opinion, the best reason of all to make a pot pie.

Have any leftover roast beef? Here's how we make roast beef hash. From the recipe archive. First posted in 2004. Happy holidays! ~Elise

Hash is a great way to use up leftover cooked meat. We tend to use roast beef, but leftover pot roast or other meats could easily be used. What really helps making an excellent hash is an old fashioned meat grinder. If you don't have a a meat grinder, you can use the grinder attachment of a KitchenAid. You can also chop the meat, potatoes, and onions very fine with a knife, though the resulting consistency will not be as blended as what you can achieve with a meat grinder.