Roast

As a crisp topping for pasta or steamed vegetables (Garlic Baguette Crumbs) or as a crucial ingredient (in the Apple Prune Brown Betty), these are worlds apart from store-bought bread crumbs. Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr (includes cooling)

Poussins are available at some butcher shops.

Begin marinating the lamb one day ahead.

Watch how to prepare and carve your bird with our streaming video demonstration.

Steamed broccoli and baked sweet potatoes are tasty accompaniments. Top slices of fruitcake with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Beef roasted in a kosher salt crust is tender and juicy. Once removed from the oven, the meat will remain hot for up to an hour.

The sap of maple trees was being used by Native Americans when the very earliest European immigrants arrived. Then it was an all-purpose seasoning, like salt, enlivening the austere diet. Now, with the refinement achieved by boiling and concentrating the flavor of the sap, maple syrup is a uniquely American sweetener. Here it adds just the right subtle note to a colorful puree of butternut squash.

A mixture of prosciutto, rosemary and plenty of garlic rubbed under the skin of the turkey gives it a distinctively delicious taste. True garlic lovers can squeeze some of the pan-roasted garlic into the gravy for even more flavor. Begin the meal with an appetizer of chilled shrimp with lemon and dill, and offer a radicchio salad as a first course. Pour a Chianti Classico Riserva.

This simple starter is delicious served with crusty Italian bread.