Root Vegetable

Classic Italian stock vegetables enhance this amber-gold broth for an unbeatable gravy that really complements the turkey.

This intense base is the secret to the full-bodied richness of the stew. Roasting emphasizes the vegetables' best qualities, and they're simmered with red wine and plenty of herbs and aromatics.

Vegetarians deserve a showstopping centerpiece for their main course, too, and this burnished pumpkin, filled with a fragrant stew, will have even meat eaters saying, "Who needs a turkey?" Root vegetables, mushrooms, and seitan—a firm, meatlike wheat protein that soaks up all the flavors of the sauce—mingle with roasted vegetables inside the pumpkin, whose flesh you scoop out along with servings of the stew. (Don't be intimidated at the thought of assembling such a masterpiece—if you've ever made a jack-o'-lantern, you have the skills to prepare this dish.)

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

Leeks prepared with a dab of butter are a perfect complement to delicate white fish.

Sautéing the squid in the bacon fat adds tons of flavor to the seafood itself. Fried calamari with marinara sauce will be but a distant memory once you try this.

Topping Napa cabbage and radishes with a distinctively tangy dressing results in a salad that's as lively as it is simple.

Since roasting brings out the best in most vegetables, food editor Melissa Roberts decided to throw the potatoes into the oven along with the garlic and parsnips, their companions in this dish. The result is an earthy mash, with chunks of caramelized parsnip and savory-sweet garlic.

A hit of coarse-grain mustard and a topping of toasted parmesan crumbs transform creamed onions from a sleepy staple into an exciting side that can hold its own.

Cider plus cider vinegar brings a sophisticated layered sweetness and a slight edge to perennial candied carrots.

We come back to this basic stock recipe year after year because we love the depth and dark hue that come from roasting the meat and vegetables beforehand—they translate to a terrific gravy.

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.

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.

Italians are crazy for dark leafy greens of all kinds, and Swiss chard is a particular favorite in the fall. Here, with stems and ribs included, you get the full earthy spectrum of the vegetable.

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.

If you've never had pale-fleshed Japanese sweet potatoes before, you'll be surprised by their subtler, drier flesh, which tastes unmistakably of chestnut. A bit of miso mixed into the scallion butter stealthily rounds out the interplay of sweet and umami that will have you eating all the way through to the last flaky remnants of skin.

Pushing a buttery spice paste underneath the turkey's skin allows the flavor to perfume the meat—and gives it extra juiciness. Here, we use the favorite Indian combination of garlic and ginger paste, along with the technique of toasting spices and then grinding them, for the freshest, most powerful result. Though the paste may smell pungent, its flavor, once the turkey has been cooked, is quite gentle.

We typically think of pickling as involving mainly vinegar or, as is the case with kimchi, a fermenting process. In India, however, oil is the secret ingredient, employed to carry the flavor of spices. Here, mustard seeds and ground turmeric bring brightness to the mix.

A bit of soppressata and cheese stuffed ingeniously between each leaf gives these artichokes a heartiness worthy of a special course. (Eat them as you normally would, scraping the leaf with your teeth—but in this case you'll get a mouthful of flavor-packed filling, too.) Using a pressure cooker speeds up cooking time and also results in incredibly tender artichokes.