Chicken

To make this dish even more decadent, add cooked chopped pancetta or cooked and crumbled smoked bacon.

Meyer lemons add a floral note, but if you can't find them, regular lemons work just fine.

Falling-off-the-bone chicken is cooked in a Chinese-inspired citrus sauce— the source of its reddish-brown color.

The ingredients are simple, but they add up to a main course that's incredibly hearty and satisfying. Cute little lady apples, cooked until soft and almost bursting, bring a luscious sweetness to the chicken and bacon.

Look for the panko at Asian markets and in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets.

Think macaroni and cheese — only ten times better. This sophisticated version combines the nuttiness of Gruyère with the intense flavor of parmesan, juicy poached chicken, and a crisp, cheesy crust. If you're short on time, feel free to use cooked rotisserie chickens (see cooks' note, below). In that case, though, don't add salt to the sauce, as the stock made from the rotisserie chickens will already be salty.

Classic Mexican comfort food, minus most of the fat.

This is the ideal way to prepare young chickens, since there are two safeguards against their drying out (always a risk with small birds). The herbed butter slipped beneath the skin melts, basting and flavoring the meat as it cooks; the gentle, indirect heat lightly chars the skin without toughening the meat. As a result, every bite is juicy and perfectly seasoned.

Splashes of lemon add a bright note to this simple chicken dish seasoned in the Provençal tradition with rosemary and garlic.

In this homey recipe, chicken is cooked with a thick creamy sauce. Kishk is traditionally eaten cold, but it's equally delicious warm.

Using roast chicken from the grocery store makes this recipe super-easy. Improv: Add sweet and crunchy accents by mixing a few chopped toasted pecans and some dried cranberries into the chicken salad. Instead of rolls, use crusty French bread or thick slices of sourdough bread.

There's depth, subtlety, and just the right amount of heat here. Start preparing this dish one day ahead since the chicken needs to marinate overnight.