Gourmet

Cranberries, pears, and apples form a sweetly irresistible autumn trinity beneath a crisp oat topping.

Sharp mustard adds edginess to the old standby combination of greens and bacon.

Sturdy forest-green collards provide the wrapping for buttery, juicy mushrooms. Elegance comes easily when it comes to these bundles, since they can be assembled a day ahead.

Ruggiero was so smitten with the kohlrabi salad at St. JOHN Bread & Wine, in London, that she snapped a photo of her plate and vowed to create her own version back in the States. Kohlrabi, which looks a lot like an alien spaceship, is as crisp as celery and has a pleasant mustardy flavor. Here, paper-thin slices get some additional zip from capers. The salad is so refreshing, it’s an ideal interlude between the extravagant meal and the dessert to come.

Truth be told, it’s hard to reinvent the Thanksgiving wheel year after year. But this crust—anise seeds baked into sweet pastry dough—is a little kiss of Italian spice; it takes pumpkin pie to a whole new level.

Even brown-rice skeptics will enjoy this textural dish full of butter-browned nuts.

Don’t worry if it looks like some of the Gorgonzola disappeared in the oven. It actually soaks into the chicken, keeping it moist and enriching its flavor.

We took a regular apple-pie recipe and sweetened the filling with Mexican piloncillo, an unrefined brown sugar. What a difference a sugar makes. This one has a lot of character and adds syrupy molasses notes to a blend of sweet and tart apples.

It's an amazing phenomenon: Even after we push back from the table, feeling sated after the Thanksgiving feast, we want to linger and enjoy one last nibble. This time or year, chestnuts are clementines are an excellent pair for a final bite. And all that peeling makes this extra indulgence seem worthwhile—at least you're working for it.

Yukon Golds go creamy and crusty at the same time when roasted with caramelized shallots. Although salt and pepper are all this dish needs, a spoonful of gravy on top is certainly welcome.

Made from an amber dessert wine, Moscatel vinegar has apricot overtones and a faint, complex acidity. When food editor Maggie Ruggiero, who developed this menu, discovered it, she called it her “white-balsamic-vinegar fantasy” and was dying to use it in something. Parsnips were in season, and their earthiness paired beautifully with this vinegar. In this easy agrodolce, the parsnips become caramelized and infused with an intriguing sweetness.

In Mexican cuisine, rajas refers to thin strips of roasted chiles. Although they commonly spice up everything from stews to tamales, rajas are best when adding a kick to creamy dishes. Here, forest-green poblanos lend a mild, almost fruity heat to a potato gratin.

The combination of condensed milk and lime gives this dessert a bit of tropical flair.

Yellow tomatoes bring a touch of sunshine to this delicious chilled soup, which can be made as spicy or as mellow as you like.

Luke Meinzen likened cooking these classic half-moon-shaped pies to "herding miniature manatees in a hot-oil sauna." We traded lamb for the mutton and scallions for the wild leeks in these hearty little pastries that have been eaten by Mongolian nomads for centuries.

Open a cold beer and dig in to this heap of potatoes, corn, and shrimp for a taste of Louisiana summer.

Simmering the cobs lends depth to a cool essence-of-corn soup, enhanced with a swirl of sour cream and a sprinkling of chives.

Juicy Asian pear and a balsamic reduction play against the bitter edge of frisée—further mellowed by leeks hot from the pan.