Sweet chile sauce has been making its way into dressings and dipping sauces for a while, but the rise in demand for the hot savory Sriracha sauce—originating in eastern Thailand and made from sun-ripened chile peppers and garlic, ground into a smooth paste—points to an increasing demand for the hot stuff. Recent threats of shortages have created a small panic among those addicted to the stuff. Mixing Sriracha with Greek yogurt and drizzling it over a dish like this is a fasttrack way to reach a sweet-sharp depth of flavor. The fresh herb paste brings in another layer of freshness, along with a visual “wow.” This is perhaps the simplest recipe in the book and, if I were a betting man, destined to become a favorite.

Beautiful, healthy, and delicious. I’m speaking, of course, of one of my favorite meals: poke. This Hawaiian dish is traditionally made with fish, and its seasonings are heavily influenced by Japanese and other Asian cuisines. It’s simply divine! I make it with sesame tempeh and sushi rice seasoned with my personal touch, which is maple syrup, of course. This beach food can now be enjoyed right in your kitchen.

If you were to create a holiday recognition game using only candy as the clue, the second you held up a tiny piece of candy corn everyone would race to smack their buzzer and scream, “Halloween for 100 points!!” Okay, clearly that clue was too easy, but it still sounds like a pretty fun game.

We used to serve this French onion soup at the Bake Shop, and it was so popular that we were spending long hours roasting beef bones for stock and preparing vegetables. Unfortunately, the overwhelming smell of onions in our kitchen was affecting our pastries, so we had to take it off the menu. I do miss eating the soup at work, but I still enjoy making it at home, especially on a cold winter’s day.

The key to a great French onion soup is a deep, dark stock with well-developed flavours. The homemade stock provided in this recipe fits the bill. Since it freezes well, you could even double or triple it for future soup-making. If you don’t have time to make your own stock, you can replace it with a good-quality store-bought beef stock, but you will lose out on some of the flavour that roasted beef bones and vegetables provide to a homemade stock.