Chicken

Inspired by all that's great about Sephardic cooking, this roast chicken feels both homey and exotic. What to drink: A light- to medium-bodied red wine with dark fruit flavors is just the thing. Try the Giacosa 2005 Dolcetto d'Alba (Italy, $20) or the Campo Viejo 2000 Reserva (Spain, $13).

Serve this Basque-style dish with rice or bread to soak up all the juices.

A cook's dream: The base is made ahead, and the shrimp are added at the last minute. Best of all, the gumbo tastes even better the second day.

Avocados add a heart-healthy touch to this satisfying salad from executive chef Stephane Beaucamp at Kantina in Newport Beach, California.

Roasting the wings before tossing them with this tangy glaze is our secret to getting crisp skin.

This one-skillet meal is an instant classic — and a perfect Hanukkah dish.

In January, we published a classic mole poblano that takes 3 1/2 hours to make — but a respectable version of the revered dish can also be had in much less time.

This dish, inspired by a recipe from Gray Kunz's Elements of Taste, is a great alternative to roasting a whole chicken. To ensure that the bird lies flat and cooks evenly in the pan, we've used the spatchcock technique, which entails simply removing the backbone of the chicken and tucking the legs up and out of the way. Don't worry if the instructions seem a bit confusing when you're reading through the recipe — the steps become obvious once you have a chicken in front of you.

This soup combines two separate recipes attributed to the agriculturalist and linguist Varro. As a remedy it could be drunk to aid the digestion, and it also served as a soup with the chicken included. I choose to leave the meat in, to give some texture to the soup. The dish is quite unusual in not using fish sauce. The sweet/savoury balance is surprisingly good.

Shake up your standard skewer with a smoky, tangy marinade created by Elissa Meadow, chef-owner of Solar Harvest in Beverly Hills, California. This recipe fills 40 percent of your daily potassium needs and supplies vitamins C and B6, as well.

Don't be surprised when this colorful, kid-friendly meal is also a hit with adults.

The tangy honey-vinegar sauce that tops this crisp-skinned chicken is also great on pork, duck, or even a meaty fish.

If using chicken halves, ask the butcher to bone them for you.

Layer upon layer of flavor infuses this stylish yet deeply comforting dish.