Pear

Chocolate and pears make an excellent combination. Here, bittersweet chocolate and sweet pears meld together to form the perfect balance. For this recipe, you can either take a rustic approach and toss the pears haphazardly into the pan or opt for a more elegant look by arranging the pears in concentric circles. Look for a good dark chocolate, which is not the same as unsweetened chocolate. Also, there are two kinds of unsweetened cocoa on the market; be sure to use unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa, not natural cocoa. When combined with baking soda, natural cocoa can impart a bitter taste to baked goods and cause them to rise too much.

What you find here and on page 96—aside from a striking striped presentation—is an equally beautiful expression of flavors. Because both beets and pears are at the height of their season, Lee has no desire, as he says, "to mess with them too much." He adds, "Nature trumps the ability of any chef." The ginger juice in the vinaigrette is inspired by Lee's Asian roots.

This spinach salad speaks to all the wonderful autumnal flavors of the Pacific Northwest. The new crop of bronzed Bosc pears is piled high at the farmers' market; the hazelnuts have been harvested, shelled, and bagged for sale; and the cranberries arrive from the Long Beach, Washington, coastal bogs. I buy sweetened dried cranberries from a local producer, but they are readily available at the grocery store (Ocean Spray is a good-quality packager), found alongside raisins and other dried fruits. This salad is a snap to assemble if you buy the packaged prewashed and trimmed baby spinach.

When thoughts turn to pie, why not pear? Bartletts, which are usually eaten out of hand, are also excellent baked. Brown sugar provides the butterscotch.

Pastry chef Mathew Rice uses flavors from his childhood as inspiration for his desserts. Here, pears and buttermilk cake are transformed with thyme, lemon, and crème fraîche. And the ice cream? A very grown-up Greek yogurt.

Nearly all of chef Kyle Caporicci's sweets come with their very own ice cream pairings: carrot cake with root beer ice cream; mango-kiwi cheesecake with mint. And in the case of this exotic fruit salad, the topping is a refreshing sake granita and pear sorbet.

Order the pig's feet from your butcher. Serve with a side of rich, creamy mashed potatoes.

Brandi, our fearless juice bar manager, contributed to this recipe, and I love the name. It really does feel like sunshine in a glass and is a great way to start the day.

It's hard to overstate the importance of kimchi, which is typically a spicy dish of fermented firm leafy cabbage and other vegetables. This mild version omits chilies. Begin making it at least three days ahead.

An amazing mix of textures and flavors—nutty, sweet, salty, plus a touch of heat from the peppercorns.

In this satisfying first course, the sweet-savory filling is wrapped up in a delicious homemade strudel dough. Keep in mind that the dough needs to chill overnight, so start this recipe one day ahead. Serve slices of the strudel alongside the watercress salad .

Core the fruit from the bottom so that the stems stay intact and the fruit looks whole on the platter.

The ricotta needs to drain overnight for this recipe, so begin one day ahead. Grade B maple syrup has a deeper flavor than Grade A; it's available at Trader Joe's and specialty foods stores, and from vermontcountrystore.com.

Soufflés are usually associated with extravagant meals, but they're cheaper to make than you may think. A soufflé is made primarily of eggs, a very budget-friendly ingredient.

We're taking the highway to French elegance with these stacked desserts. Unsweetened whipped cream is a wonderful foil for gooey caramelized pears and flaky puff pastry.

The best flavors of fruitcake baked into a tart that’s a balance of sweet, tangy, and buttery.

No need to heat up the oven. Not only is grilling faster than baking, but it also adds a nice smoky flavor to the pizza.

Adorable Seckel pears are on display in this showpiece, but the essence of pear permeates the entire tart. Musky, honeyed Bartletts are juiced into white wine, creating a poaching liquid for the Seckels. Doubly infused with pear, that syrup becomes the base for the poire William-spiked pastry cream and glaze.