Nutmeg

Remove the skin from the game hens before roasting them to make this delicious main course lower in fat. Uncork a bottle of Chardonnay, and offer steamed yellow and green zucchini alongside.

Buttery-tasting Yukon Gold potatoes can now be found in grocery stores and farmers' markets all across the country, but this recipe can certainly be made with russet potatoes instead.

This is a variation on a cake that my mother makes for both dessert and breakfast. The original recipe used a couple of bowls and a mixer, but I've developed a quick saucepan method, and even my mother says it has the same moist, tender texture and flavor.

This version of the much maligned Christmas classic is deliciously lacking in candied cherries, giant mixed nuts and citron, but it is filled with bits of marzipan and lots of appealing dried fruit. Baking the cakes in disposable aluminum loaf pans (available at supermarkets) or in decorative cardboard loaf pans (available at some cookware stores or by mail order) makes gift giving easy; just wrap each cake in its pan in cellophane, and add a colorful ribbon.

This can be used to lighten any casserole that calls for a white sauce.

You don't have to be in the kitchen at the crack of dawn to prepare a terrific breakfast. In this recipe the French toast is soaked overnight like bread pudding — in the morning all you need to do is add the topping and pop it in the oven. Serve it with coffee, juice, and fresh fruit and you've got a well-rounded way to start the day.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Literally "top of the shop," ras el hanout is a Moroccan spice blend that can contain more than 20 ingredients. This streamlined version includes the main spices of the traditional mixture.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 5 hr

Turnip plants were brought to America by early French and English settlers.

Any combination of nuts will work nicely in this winter tart.

When the use of chocolate became common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, chocolaterías opened in Madrid, serving hot chocolate to weary voyagers and the homeless. In Spain, the warming elixir is distinguished by the addition of spice, but especially by its rich, frothy texture, achieved by heating and beating it several times. Traditionally, a wooden hand mill called a molinillo is used, but a whisk works as well.