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Toronto chef Nuit Regular changed the way the city’s diners viewed Thai cuisine—and she hopes her new cookbook, Kiin, will do the same for how people cook it at home. “Today, the ingredients are easy to find online and at Asian supermarkets,” says Regular. And if a certain recipe seems hard, she says, just start with a simpler one: papaya salad or the starter paste for a tom yum soup. “Once you overcome the intimidation of thinking it’s hard, you’re going to find a different joy in Thai food, in making it for yourself.”

My 19-year-old sister-in-law chose the Chunky Sweet Potato Fries with Herbed Yogurt Dip and paired it with her favourite Chatelaine recipe to date, the Hearty Middle Eastern Supper Salad. She had invited a classmate over to join us for a weeknight dinner before they headed out for the evening. I approved of her choices. Who doesn’t love sweet potato fries? And with freshly-made herbed yogurt dip? Yummy.

Turn these in-season goods into delicious dishes in minutes: creamy herbed-tortellini salad, cucumber and onion salad, golden zucchini-feta cakes

Only good can come of combining four of the most heavenly foods known to (wo)man: potatoes, butter, bacon, and cheese. Dish these up alongside grilled steak, pork chops, or portobellos, and if at all humanly possible, save some for building breakfast burritos the next morning.

If there is an Italian equivalent to mashed potatoes, something you can serve with—or under—just about anything, it’s got to be polenta. Maybe it’s the Italian in me, but i like its texture and the sweet corn flavour a lot more. Spinach makes it somewhat virtuous and also so pretty. This is rich, so serve it in small portions.