Winter

Transform a traditional holiday side into something bold and beautiful using smoked paprika (hot or sweet) and cayenne. This dish couldn’t be simpler to prepare, requiring just a handful of ingredients and yielding a result that’s sweet, savory, and delicious.

This simple-to-prepare pot pie is a perfect excuse for all that leftover Thanksgiving turkey. The cheesy crust is so good that you’ll want to bake it as a stand-alone biscuit—use just a cup of buttermilk for a stiffer consistency.

Whoever believes that bread-based stuffing is the only one worth eating hasn’t tried this wild rice version. Alongside perfectly cooked poultry, its blend of sweet and savory stands out as a great-tasting, healthier alternative to plain old stuffing. Pearl onions are sweeter than their larger cousins and they add a nice visual touch, so seek them out in the market’s frozen section. And to fortify nutrients, substitute with brown rice, which requires a little more cooking time than white.

Basic but brilliant is an apt description for this never-fail Thanksgiving turkey from acclaimed restaurant-owner and Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio. His secret is to use a moisture-ensuring butter that is rubbed under the turkey skin; Tom’s is speckled with rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme, but use herbs of your choosing to put a personal stamp on this dynamite bird. With its simple and traditional flavor notes, this turkey can be paired with a variety of stuffings, though we’re partial to our New England Sausage, Apple, and Dried Cranberry Stuffing (page 262).

In this protein-packed vegetarian version of the French bistro classic, tangy leeks and a garlic-herb bread-crumb topping mean that you won’t miss the sausage and duck that you’d find in a traditional cassoulet. Best of all, this one-pot wonder takes considerably less time to assemble and cook than a meat-lover’s cassoulet. For an easy flavor boost, substitute vegetable broth for the water, and add a can of fire-roasted tomatoes.

A satisfying budget-friendly Southern supper with leftovers that pack up easily for lunch the next day—what else could you ask for? This one-pot feast is packed with turkey, rice, and peppers, plus a little cayenne for spice. If you don’t like turkey, use chicken instead and add a dash of smoked paprika or lean bacon for a warm, earthy effect.

Inside this beautiful pork roast is a sweet and savory fruit surprise: apricots, prunes, and apples. A coat of bacon keeps the meat moist as it cooks. Stuff and wrap the pork a day ahead to let the flavors marinate. The port sauce not only provides a lovely glaze for the meat but is also a great topper for side dishes like mashed potatoes and green beans.

For those who’ve not already jumped on board, it’s time to embrace kale! It stars in this hearty potato salad, versatile enough for a stand-alone meal or an accompaniment to pork tenderloin. Strip the kale quickly by turning the leaf upside down, grasping the top of the stem with one hand, and wrapping the other hand around the stem just below. Pull the leaf down with your lower hand; it will easily peel away. Then, save time by preparing the tahini dressing as the seasoned potatoes roast in the oven.

From Southern food aficionado John T. Edge, this recipe calls for bitters such as collards, mustard greens, and kale and then amps up the flavor with red pepper flakes, garlic, and crunchy bacon. Homemade béchamel sauce sends it over the top. Serve this as a savory addition to any winter feast in place of the usual creamed spinach; it’s a spectacular pledge-of-undying-love-to-the-chef kind of dish.

This ice cream can be made up to a week in advance, which helps free up precious prep time during the always-hectic holiday season. The lovely aroma of freshly grated nutmeg will put you, and everyone who enjoys this treat, in the holiday spirit.

Few comfort foods hit the spot like a good chili. Don’t forget the Cheddar shortcakes; the light, fluffy consistency of the dough pairs perfectly with this Tex-Mex staple.

Amazingly, the New York Times fashion critic, Cathy Horyn, is also an accomplished cook and intrepid baker. The equivalent would be if I, a food writer, were also a sleek fashion plate with a deep bench of vintage and modern pieces. This is certainly not the case, so I find her extremely impressive. She claims that these cookies are a Swedish-American tradition in her hometown of Coshocton, Ohio, but I feel they are the cookie equivalent of Paris Fashion Week: a modern, edgy take on a classic. They are truly remarkable, with a robust and smoky undertone that sets them apart from other gingersnaps.

You say potato; we say, Ahhh. The tubers help restock your magnesium stores; low levels can up mental stress.

Chef Kris Wessel of Florida Cookery in Miami Beach, Florida, shared this recipe as part of a Palm Tree Christmas menu he created exclusively for Epicurious. It showcases Florida oranges and grapefruits, which are at their peak during December.

Chef Kris Wessel of Florida Cookery in Miami Beach, Florida, shared this recipe as part of a Palm Tree Christmas menu he created exclusively for Epicurious. At Wessel family Christmases at Grandmother Esther's house in Miami Beach, the main courses were Florida-centric, but the desserts were not. This particular rum cake was often served by one of Wessel's aunts. "I think all the Irish side of our family loved it because it was loaded with rum," he says, joking that they'd often add more to the glaze than the recipe called for. The alcohol will burn off, but you can also omit the rum glaze and just serve with ice cream.

One of the many treats my brother and I looked forward to during the Christmas holidays was having a freshly baked petit bonhomme for breakfast or for an afternoon snack. The breads seemed to have a best friend, too: hot chocolate. Still today shop windows display the petits bonhommes in sizes ranging from seven or eight inches to several feet high. Some families buy a large bread to put in the middle of the holiday breakfast table. My father made his petits bonhommes from brioche but tells me they can also be made from the kugelhopf dough.

Jellied candies like these are eaten all over Europe as post-dessert petits fours.

This is the stew that made such an impression on the final episode of the first season of Top Chef Masters. Each of us had been asked to create a meal that would be an autobiography told through the dishes we would present to the judges. I immediately thought of baeckeoffe ("baker's oven"). The name refers back to the time when bakers used wood-fired ovens. After the bread was done, this dish would be baked long and slow in the falling temperatures of the cooling oven. Since everyone in town would see the baker every day for the family's daily loaf, each would often bring a casserole to be baked in the oven. It was traditional, particularly on Mondays, when the women went to the river to do their laundry. They would have marinated their meats and vegetables overnight, dropped their casseroles off in the morning on their way, and then picked them up—plus a loaf of bread—on their way home. Even though my father was not the bread baker and had a modern, gasfired oven, people still took their casseroles to him. They liked to drop in because he always had some joke or story to tell. Before the village baker also invested in a modern oven and was still using wood, when my father turned over a fresh loaf of bread to give it the traditional blessing, he would sometimes see pieces of charcoal embedded in the crust. That would send my dad wild, muttering that "he [the baker] did not thoroughly clean his oven!" I make this dish often, both at home and at the restaurant. But these days we tend to increase the vegetables and use less meat, and sometimes we use only vegetables and leave out the meat entirely. While there is never a mushroom in the classic recipe, you can add them or make a vegetarian version with mushrooms and a rich vegetable stock. I've also made this stew as the centerpiece for Christmas dinner, adding plenty of sliced black truffles. The classic dish uses a mix of meats including a pig's foot, which gives a rich, gelatinous texture to the stew. You may be able to special-order a pig's foot. Ask the butcher to slice it crosswise into three pieces. But even at the restaurant I sometimes have trouble ordering them, and your stew will still be delicious without one. You can also use just one or two kinds of meat instead of all three.

We love the way Dijon mustard enhances the similarly assertive flavor of the kale, while mellow pine nuts and Parmesan cheese balance it out. You can make this salad a day ahead; the flavors develop and deepen with a little extra time in the fridge. It's also delicious served warm or at room temperature.