Russet Potato

Though the chips and purée can be served at room temperature, the caviar should be chilled, so assemble these hors d'oeuvres in batches as platters need replenishing.

Hot-smoked fully cooked salmon is flaky in texture and fragrant with alder smoke. This dish can be completely assembled and chilled one day before baking.

A favorite steak-dinner starter served at Cattlemen's Steakhouse in the historic Stockyards City area of Oklahoma City.

I leave the roots on the leeks until after cooking, so they don't fall apart. Just wash and trim beforehand.

This frittata makes a perfect brunch or lunch — it works especially well for a picnic. And on a steamy summer night, it may be all you need for dinner. Adding a green salad and a nice piece of bread is an easy way to round out the plate.

This recipe was inspired by stoemp, a Belgian dish of mashed potatoes with vegetables.

This rib-sticking soup makes a fine meal, especially with a salad alongside. See how to dice potatoes.

This stuffed potato is practically a meal in itself; just add a salad, and you're all set.

At the restaurant, the gnocchi are shaped in a time-honored manner that includes pressing each short dough piece against the tines of a fork. Home cooks may find it simpler to roll the dough along the wires of a whisk, as outlined here. Also, if you can't get ground chuck, buy a boneless chuck roast, and ask the butcher to grind it for you.

Our food editors agree that this is one of the best-tasting and most elegant shepherd's pies they've ever had. The recipe is not as complicated as it appears at first glance—the different components all come together to make a complete meal in a single dish. The potatoes are stiffer than the average mash because they will be forming the crust for the pie.

Shallots, cayenne pepper and cheddar, the king of Wisconsin cheeses, all add a distinctive flavor to this appealing dish.

A rich, delicious stove-top side dish with a silky texture. This pairs especially well with the Porcini-Rubbed Turkey with Shiitake-Madeira Gravy — or grilled steaks on any other day in November. You can make the potatoes eight hours ahead and reheat them just before serving.

The moist interior and crisp crust call out for a main course of roast chicken or fish with pan juices.

Alice Marcus Solovy of Skokie, Illinois, writes: "Although I'm retired now, I like recipes that are fairly quick. Usually I'm just cooking for my husband and daughter, but occasionally we're joined by our eldest daughter and her family. When it comes to getting dinner ready, I have a system. While the main course is cooking, I'll prepare the potatoes and other side dishes. When guests come over, I'm not too fond of letting them help in the kitchen. I'm kind of a tyrant that way. I'd rather make dinner myself and have it all ready." To cut down on the cooking time, these potatoes are cooked in the microwave first, then stuffed and rewarmed in the oven.

Jim Fobel, cookbook author, says. "My mother never put sun-dried tomatoes in her mashed potatoes, as I do in this recipe. She made them ahead, then topped them with Parmesan and butter, and baked them. I've always loved those potatoes, and the layer of chopped sun-dried tomatoes I've added provides some terrific extra flavor."