Herbs & Spices

This pretty side dish (the onions open up like flowers) would be great alongside steak or roast chicken.

The fragrant spices in this apple crisp are pure Christmas, and the cornmeal in the topping adds a rustic touch.

These fried cheese crisps are fun to make, so enlist a few guests to help if you decide to make them at the last minute.

This hearty fish soup get tons of flavor from smoky bacon and fragrant saffron.

Serve with steamed rice to soak up the flavorful sauce.

Put on your winter whites for this elegant dessert featuring spiced, wine-poached pears, ladyfingers, and a white chocolate–mascarpone mousse.

This is the perfect entrée for a holiday dinner for two. Complete the meal with sautéed green beans and wild mushrooms and a wild-rice pilaf with chopped fresh parsley and hazelnuts. For dessert? Chocolate mousse topped with rum-spiked whipped cream and chopped crystallized ginger.

Crisp disks of two kinds of radishes taste clean and sweet in this Japanese- and Korean-influenced pickle.

Here's an idea: Save a few of the toasted pumpkin seeds to use as a garnish. That little bit of extra crunch will complement the sweet, succulent squash beautifully.

It may sound like the kind of bogus claim made on late-night infomercials, but trust us when we say it's true: You really can have juicy ribs ready in an hour! Finishing the ribs under the broiler is the secret to getting a perfectly crisp-moist texture.

Whipped cream becomes light—yet richer—with the addition of Calvados. It echoes the apples in the torte but also goes beautifully with the pumpkin plum tart.

A delicate, sparkling sugar shell transforms fresh cranberries and sage leaves into jewellike candies that beautifully adorn the cranberry grappa jelly and that also taste entirely appropriate with the main course.

Make the vibrant lemon, tarragon, and parsley butter up to three days ahead and then toss with hot blanched green beans for an easy last-second side.

In the world of stuffing, this one is relatively light, though no less satisfying than a more traditional mix. And it tastes like a gift from the forest, with hearty cremini mushrooms, fresh sage, and the crunch of toasted hazelnuts.

Floating on the surface of this pale, silky soup, which tastes of the essence of parsley, is a trompe l'oeil surprise: What looks like shaved truffles is actually thinly sliced chestnuts, adding a nutty sweetness.

This gently sweet ricotta tart provides a creamy base to a rich compote of dried fruit, which includes figs, sour cherries, and apricots (we much prefer the tangy California kind over Turkish). It's much lighter than a cheesecake, but it hits all the right spots. The Miraglia family likes the tart chilled, but we also loved it at room temperature.

You've encountered a million potato-bacon-cheese combos in your lifetime, but in retrospect they all seem to be rehearsals for this one, a classic of Miraglia Eriquez's Calabrian grandmother Mary Pacella, who immigrated to Brooklyn in 1934. Crispness abounds, from the bacon to the slight crust on the roasted potatoes, yielding to creamy, very potatoey interiors.

The ingredients here evolved from the Miraglia family's favorite way to roast capon, but the simplicity of this dish will resonate with anyone looking for a beautiful and delicious all-American turkey.