Savory Pie and Tart

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Ted Allen's The Food You Want to Eat. For Allen's tips on throwing a Thanksgiving party, click here. The intent with this dish was an entrée — an entrée not just appropriate for vegetarians, but for vegans. But in the context of Thanksgiving, it serves either as a wonderful companion to turkey (or as that too-rare dish at the American dinner party: a hearty, bona-fide vegetarian option). You can assemble it ahead and refrigerate. (If you do, bake it at 350°F for 45 to 50 minutes instead of the below instructions.)

Quiche is cool again, and it tastes as delicious now as it did back then.

Empanadas de Bariloche This recipe is excerpted from Shirley Lomax Brooks's book Argentina Cooks! We've also added some tips of our own below. To read more about Argentine cuisine, click here. High in the Andes, near the border with Chile, is the all-season splendor of San Carlos de Bariloche. At Christmastime it's a fairyland of cobalt lakes, forested islands, and manicured parklands surrounded by snow-capped alpine peaks. In the center of a small peninsula stands the rustic but elegant Llao Llao Hotel, a holiday mecca for the elite of Buenos Aires, Santiago, and even Paris, Düsseldorf, London, Madrid and Milan. When not attending the hotel's casino (closed as of this writing), guests spend their time dining in exquisite surroundings on international cuisine as well as impeccably fresh seafood from the Pacific coast of Chile. Hence, recipes such as Empanadas de Bariloche frequently straddle the border.

Cookies may seem odd in a vegetable galette, but Italians often use amaretti to enhance squash—and it works with sweet potatoes, too. Whereas the potato and kale galette is savory, this is a little sweet, so it's worth making both.

A crisp potato cake would be tempting enough—even without the surprise of garlicky kale sandwiched between its layers.

Try this Mexican-inspired quiche for brunch, lunch, or dinner—it’s good anytime of day!

Fruit tart desserts often steal the spotlight in summer, but this easy savory treat showcases plum tomatoes in their prime with such simple grace that you'll forget about sweets for the moment.

Market tip: Many Greek cheeses are made with goat's milk or sheep's milk. Kefalotyri is hard and salty; Pecorino Romano is a good substitute. Kasseri is mild and firm; Parmigiano-Reggiano makes a good stand-in. You can find Greek cheeses at specialty foods stores, at Greek markets, and at igourmet.com.

Pitas, or savory pies, are ubiquitous in mountainous Epirus, in no small part because their portability suited itinerant sheepherding families. Even when you are staying put, this one is well worth making. Its homemade phyllo is rolled out much thicker than the commercial kind, making something more akin to a tender piecrust, and it's imbued with rich flavor from yogurt.

This simple one-dish vegetarian meal is hearty without being heavy.

Editor's note: The recipe below is excerpted from Katie Brown's Weekends. To read more about Katie Brown and to get her tips on throwing a headache-free cocktail party, click here. I love an all-in-one dish!

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Joan Nathan's book The Foods of Israel Today. Nathan also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Nathan and Israeli cuisine, click here. I remember with pleasure the Turkish Spinach burekas we ate every Friday morning when I worked in the Jerusalem municipality. The ritual was as follows: Simontov, the guard at the front door downstairs, would appear carrying a bronze tray with Turkish coffee and the heavenly, flaky pastries filled with spinach or cheese, called filikas in Ladino. It is rare today to have such delicious burekas, in Jerusalem or anywhere else in Israel. Most of the dough is commercially produced puff pastry, much thicker and less flaky than the homemade phyllo used to be. A few places, like Burekas Penzo in Tel Aviv (near Levinsky Street), which has been making the pastries by hand in the Turkish style for more than thirty years, produce a close second to those I remember from my days in Jerusalem. Various Ladino names like bulemas and boyos differentiate fillings and distinguish a Jewish bureka from a Turkish one. If you can find the thick phyllo dough, that works well. Otherwise, try this. My fifteen-year-old makes and sells them for fifty cents a piece. They are great!

This recipe is an accompaniment for Potato, Pepper, and Chorizo Empanadas .

Irish stouts produce a thick head when poured, so chill the can or bottle well before measuring to reduce the foam.

The flaky dill biscuit crusts that top these creamy pies look impressive, but they're surprisingly easy to make.