9 Great Recipes from Cookbook Legends

Green-Lentil Curry

Many of Madhur Jaffrey's books have an Indian slant, but she's most famous for her 1999 tome Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. While she often follows the Indian tradition of serving several small dishes together, the lentil-vegetable curry here is a Western-style main course. Eaten over rice with yogurt, it's a very satisfying meal.

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, $22 at amazon.com

Jacques Pépin's Favorite Pound Cake

The French call pound cake quatre-quarts ("four-fourths") because it is made with equal parts flour, sugar, eggs and butter. Pépin's mother, aunt and cousin all have their versions. He likes to fold in candied citrus peels to make a French fruit cake; he also loves plain slices dipped in espresso.

Essential Pépin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food, $21 at amazon.com

Spice-Braised Chicken Legs with Red Wine and Tomato

Alexandra Guarnaschelli's mother Maria, the legendary cookbook editor at W.W. Norton, made a version of this lightly spicy dish when Guarnaschelli was a kid. Alex has adapted the recipe by adding red wine.

The Home Cook: Recipes to Know by Heart, $23 at amazon.com

Chorizo-Filled Dates Wrapped in Bacon

This timeless dish from Spanish cookbook author Penelope Casas has everything going for it—it's sweet, smoky and savory, all in one bite.

Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain, $23 at amazon.com

Bayless's Queso Fundido al Tequila

Chef Rick Bayless is renowned for cookbooks featuring elaborate Mexican recipes. With Mexican Everyday, he's finally published a cookbook for fast weeknight cooking. This simple, 20-minute dip of melted cheese flavored with tomatoes, chiles, onion and a hit of tequila is just the thing to satisfy a sudden craving for something warm, salty and gooey.

Mexican Everyday, $24 at amazon.com

Swordfish Sicilian-Style

From cookbook genius Marcella Hazan, a little herb-infused dressing transforms just-grilled swordfish steaks.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, $19 at amazon.com

Chicken in Red Wine Vinegar

For Paula Wolfert, this rustic Lyonnaise dish is comfort food. Slow cooking transforms red wine vinegar, tomato, shallots, garlic and a touch of honey into a perfectly balanced sauce for chicken.

The Food of Morocco, $27 at amazon.com

Rare Roast Beef with Fresh Herbs and Basil Oil

Adapted from a recipe in author Patricia Wells's cookbook, Salad as a Meal, this rosy roast beef with basil oil seems decadent but contains only two grams of saturated fat per serving.

Salad as a Meal, $18 at amazon.com

Pasta with Smothered Broccoli Rabe and Olives

Many Mediterranean cooks use clay pots to cook foods without added liquid. In Sicily, the method is called affogato and the pot is an earthenware tegame. In Paula Wolfert's adaptation of a specialty she enjoyed many years ago at the Ristorante Circolo Uliveto, in the Sicilian town of Trecastagni, she substitutes an easier-to-find cazuela for the tegame. She uses it to cook coarsely chopped broccoli rabe (ideally the young, leafy kind) with grated pecorino cheese, briny olives and meaty anchovies, then folds the mixture into boiled pasta and bakes it.