Root Vegetable

Roasting the meat for almost seven hours makes it tender and succulent. The bright, fresh salsa verde is the perfect accent for the rich meat.

Serve with warm flatbread or pita bread.

Debi Mazar shared this recipe exclusively with Epicurious. When making this rich dish, Mazar likes to multiply the recipe by one and a half. Leftovers can be quickly heated and served over pasta for an easy, delicious weeknight dinner.

Coating the rice with butter and oil keeps the grains from sticking together while they cook.

Wash the salad greens in a large bowl of cold water. Handle them gently to avoid bruising.

Steaming the carrots tenderizes them before baking. The honey really heats up; during baking, check once or twice so it doesn't burn the carrots.

Like many an accomplished hostess in the South, Miss Lewis was a dab hand at making yeast rolls and always generously anointed them with butter before putting them in the oven. Dinner rolls should be brought to the table hot, so if you make them early in the day, you will want to reheat them gently. (Leftovers are great for breakfast the next morning, split, buttered, and served with homemade strawberry or fig preserves.) Mashed potato is a traditional addition to a yeast dough like this one; it helps the rising and also contributes to its tenderness. These rolls have outstanding flavor and are so light and fluffy they almost levitate.

"Smothering" means braising a tough cut of meat to tenderize it. Slow simmering also concentrates the flavor of the gravy.

Potatoes aren't a backbone starch in the South, but they're one vegetable, notes Miss Lewis, that is good in all seasons.

The brown sugar in the ingredients list below is there to mellow the acidity of the tomatoes, not to make this a sweet dish. Use a sturdy bakery loaf of white sandwich bread, not the packaged sliced stuff, for the topping. You will get enormous pleasure from serving people this dish.

Think of the best sweet-potato pie you've ever eaten and then take away the crust so you can revel solely in its silky goodness. A bite of this pudding is full and round, with hits of chestnut and dried fruit.

In keeping with the rest of the menu, this is no shy salad. The sweet and acidic vinaigrette unites with the salty bacon and, along with the lettuces, produces fireworks in the mouth.

This shrimp's gentle preparation yields an utterly soothing broth that tastes just right first thing in the morning. Grab some grits or a warm biscuit to help sop up the juices.

This rustic, satisfying spiced soup—a perfect dish to make ahead and reheat on busy weeknights—will help stave off even the fiercest midwinter chill.

Potato pancakes get a makeover, and so do you! These have lots of vitamin A, which will help keep your skin healthy for the holidays.

These spicy snacks taste even better than nachos, plus the avocado and tuna add a hefty 10 grams of heart-healthy fat.