85 first recipes

Slow cooker veggie chili layers black beans, corn, peppers and crushed tomatoes with spices bloomed in oil first, then simmers all day. A hearty, high-fiber vegetarian chili that's nearly hands-off.

Luxuriously creamy Colombian avocado vichyssoise with leeks, potatoes, and heavy cream. Serve it hot or cold as an elegant first course before fish. Ready in just 30 minutes.

Chilled peach soup with white wine, orange liqueur, maple syrup, and whipped cream. A silky, boozy fruit soup that works as an elegant summer dessert or first course.

Chilled cinnamon peach soup with ripe summer peaches, warm spices, orange juice, and yogurt. A refreshing first course or light dessert that captures peach season in a bowl.

Traditional Ukrainian kutia made with slow-cooked wheat berries, ground poppy seeds, honey, walnuts, and raisins. The first dish of the 12-course Sviata Vechera Christmas Eve supper.

Award-winning thumbprint cookies with buttery dough rolled in finely chopped nuts, pressed with your thumb, and filled with ruby raspberry jam: elegant holiday baking that won first place.

This holiday fruitcake recipe may change your mind about fruitcakes. Golden, buttery, and chock full of fruits and nuts make this delicious from the first bite to the last.

Layered dessert with whole wheat oat crust, butterscotch pudding, spiced apple pie filling, and crunchy bran topping. Bake the crust first, then layer everything and finish in the oven.

A cold seafood pizza appetizer on a flaky crescent roll crust with sour cream spread, shrimp, crab, broccoli, and colorful bell peppers. The potluck crowd-pleaser that vanishes first.

Cream of artichoke and oyster soup poaches plump oysters in butter, then folds them into a tarragon-chervil pureed artichoke veloute finished with cream. Elegant French Creole first course.

Salmon tempura rolls wrapped in nori with mirin-glazed leeks inside, then flash-fried in rice flour batter. Restaurant-style Japanese crispy salmon roll that shatters into warm, silky salmon at the first bite.

It is really so nice a recipe, my first time tried it, really a surprising for my whole families, they all loved it so much, will make it again soon.

Shibu Kawa-Ni: Japanese chestnuts simmered first in green tea, then in a light sugar and soy sauce syrup. A refined, minimalist appetizer with just 4 ingredients and subtle, earthy sweetness.

Two layers of chocolate-mint cheesecake on a crushed Thin Mint cookie crust, finished with peppermint chocolate ganache. Girl Scout cookie season just became a year-round affair.

Rhubarb and strawberry compote in a glossy orange juice syrup. Rhubarb simmers first, then fresh strawberries fold in off the heat for a fresh-tasting spring fruit topping. Light, tangy, low-sugar.

Dark cocoa cookies stuffed with two full cups of chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Makes 54 soft, fudgy drop cookies with a deep chocolate flavor that hits from the very first bite.