Apple

Apples and apple cider lend a pleasant sweetness to this beautiful soup.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

If you don't have a spice mill, you can crush the whole spices in a heavy plastic bag, then grind them finely in the blender.

Oats, brown sugar and walnuts team up with cinnamon and cloves in the terrific streusel topping for this homespun treat.

Setting the skillet that contains the caramel onto a larger skillet of ice cubes is a clever way to prevent the caramel from burning.

The lingonberry, a relative of the cranberry, grows wild in the Scandinavian mountains. It adds tartness to the following traditional Danish sweet.

A good cut of meat for this recipe is the butt portion of a bone-in, water-added ham. For optimum flavor, I like to prebake the ham, then simply slice away what I need from the bone.

Steamed green beans and a rice or pasta salad from the deli go nicely with this entrée inspired by the Pacific Northwest. End with a simple but sophisticated dessert of coffee ice cream drizzled with brandy and sprinkled with toasted hazelnuts. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

If mention of "pinto" brings to mind pink beans, think again this time: The following "pinto" bread pudding contains none of those beans beloved of chili fans but is named for the distinctive calico splotches that pattern the West's pinto pony.

These apples are a perfect garnish for the spiced apple cake and caramelized apple crêpes. They're terrific as a topping for ice cream, too. Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 25 min

In this dish, the richness of the venison is balanced by the sweet-tart fruit compote.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 2 hr

Rare is the serious restaurant-goer who ventures into an unfamiliar city without a copy of the local Zagat Survey. Tim and Nina Zagat published their first guide back in 1979, and since then, their burgundy pocket-size compendiums of consumer opinion have led millions to the best dining rooms in the world. Over the years, the Zagats have had hundreds of stunning restaurant desserts, but for Nina, nothing is as well remembered as her grandmother's apple pie. "She only believed in the basics: good apples, sugar, a squeeze of lemon," says Nina. "Even cinnamon was suspect. I used to bake the pies with her, and I loved to make sweet little things from the leftover pastry scraps. She baked the pies in a wood stove and they always came out perfectly." In honor of such grandmotherly comforts, here is a beautiful and delicious pie to serve with vanilla ice cream or slightly sweetened whipped cream.

This easy dressing makes a great side dish for roast chicken or fried pork chops.