Oven Bake

Pollo con Frutos y Frutas Secas As this recipe demonstrates, Ferran Adrià, the alchemist chef of El Bulli, is as practical as he is inventive. It's adapted from the cookbook he dedicated to quick recipes that can be made with supermarket ingredients, and it features a store-bought rotisserie chicken that's deliciously doctored with a sauce of dried fruit, pine nuts, and port wine. Though you can whip the dish up in less than half an hour, the flavors are sophisticated enough for a fancy dinner party. If you'd like to roast your own chicken, so much the better.

The sandwiches can be refrigerated one day ahead (chill the chicken and spinach before assembling).

Serve at room temperature with a sprinkling of salt, cornichons, Dijon, and a baguette.

This side is a riff on pommes Anna, a classic French dish of sliced, layered potatoes cooked in a shallow pan. In this modern version, the potatoes are joined by slices of celery root and turnip.

Dried beans don’t always need to soak overnight. Just prepare them as instructed below.

In an attempt to simplify hash browns, we spread superthin slices of buttered Yukon Golds in a casserole and baked them in the oven. They came out equal parts tender spuds and crisp golden top—a delicious cross between scalloped potatoes and homemade chips.

"I'm hot-rodding bacon here," said food editor Melissa Roberts, "making it extra-special with a fragrant hit of pepper over a sweet glaze." Rendering the bacon before it's brushed with maple syrup and finished in the oven results in strips with a spectacular crunch.

This full-bodied stew will bring the crowd running when you lift the lid. First, pieces of chuck are browned to develop their flavor, then they’re braised in a red-wine beef broth. Adding the potatoes and carrots toward the end of cooking keeps their character and color bright.

A fun twist on tradition— cornbread stuffing molded into muffins.

In Turkish cookery there's a distinctive group of dishes known as güveç, which take their name from the earthenware pot in which they are cooked—in the same way that the tagine does in Morocco. In rural Anatolia the cooking pots may be sealed and buried in the ashes of a fire to cook slowly overnight—or, only slightly less romantically, in the local baker's oven. If you don't have a clay pot, a heavy-based cast-iron casserole dish will serve almost as well. Güveç dishes encompass all sorts of meat or poultry cooked with legumes, vegetables and fruits. My addition of star anise is not remotely Turkish, but it adds a wonderful layer of aniseed flavor. This güveç is spicy with a lingering sweetness, so serve it with a light salad or braised wild greens. A dollop of yogurt would also be delicious. Sucuk is a spicy Turkish sausage and can be found in Turkish or Middle Eastern butchers and some specialist delis.

Add broth 1/4 cup at a time, stirring, to avoid sogginess.

This simple dish has a quiche-like filling and baguette slices for a crust.

Luscious and satisfying—a little goes a long way. Make the gratin up to one day ahead. Before serving, cut it into pieces and rewarm in the oven.

Meet the latke's larger, Swiss cousin: the Rösti. This recipe makes two giant potato cakes; if you want to serve them at the same time, you’ll need to use two skillets (heavy ones produce the crispest results).

Here, chanterelles provide a delicate but satisfying topping for baked fish.

Instead of breadcrumbs, this mac and cheese is topped with rich, pungent caramelized shallots and creamy, crumbled goat cheese.

Eel can be a tough sell, until you have tried it. In Italy, however, it appears in a magnificent and succulent dish on almost every table during Christmas week, particularly on La Vigilia, Christmas Eve, when it is perhaps the most traditional dish of all. The many fish dishes served that night.

You can’t go wrong with a traditional bread stuffing, especially when it’s enlivened with fresh sage and celery leaves. Broad chunks of baguette, golden and crisp on top, soak up turkey stock and buttery juices from the sautéed onions and celery.