Herbs & Spices

If you can get fresh shelled peas, cook them in a pan of boiling water until they are just tender, 3 to 5 minutes, then drain and toss them with the chives, zest, and pepper. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 40 min

Each recipe makes about three dozen cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutters used. The gingerbread cookies are crisp and lightly spiced, while the sugar cookies have lively lemon and tangerine flavors. Both are perfect for a variety of imaginative decorations.

The gravy can be started while the turkey roasts. When the turkey is through cooking, finish the gravy with balsamic vinegar and the pan juices. Watch how to prepare and carve your bird with our streaming video demonstration.

Hens marinated in coconut milk, red curry paste and lemongrass are just one of the exotic dishes offered on the daily-changing menu at Bank. The chef uses guinea hens; we―ve substituted the more readily available game hens. Begin preparing this a day ahead.

(TARTE ABRICOT VERLET) Verlet is a tiny tea and coffee shop that also serves good homemade pastries. Anyone who loves apricots will love this simple, homey pie. Be sure to use fresh, not canned, apricots.

For those who've found the consistency of okra unappealing, there are secrets to keeping it crisp and toothsome: Don't cut into the pod when trimming the stems and don't overcook it.

The use of leavening in a cake is first recorded in a recipe for gingerbread from Amelia Simmons's American Cookery, published in Hartford in 1796; I guess you could say it is the original great American cake. Early-19th-century cookbooks included as many recipes for this as contemporary cookbooks do for chocolate cake. This recipe, from Claudia Fleming, pastry chef at New York City's Gramercy Tavern, is superlative—wonderfully moist and spicy.

Also known as jook, congee turns up in Chinese households morning, noon, and night. This thick rendition is made heartier with the addition of chicken.

These easy refrigerator cookies are great to have on hand. Chill or freeze the dough, then just slice some off and bake when you want cookies.

In this classic French dish, a veal roast is sliced and layered with a combination of soubise (onion) and duxelles (mushroom) stuffings, then put back together in the shape of the roast. Traditionally, it's covered with more stuffing and heavily coated with a Mornay sauce (which glazes the roast as it's heated in the oven). In our updated version, we keep the soubise and duxelles separate and arrange them side by side — black contrasting with white — on each veal slice, so the stuffings are visible. We use only a very thin coating of Mornay to glaze the dish, and serve the rest on the side.

Bettina says that this recipe is one of her delicious and dependable standbys.

Ask your butcher to bone and butterfly the leg of lamb. Begin marinating one day ahead.

Peas and chives really dress up this side dish.

This is great warm or at room temperature.