Beverages

Here's an elegant and refreshing dish that features a wine syrup drizzled over grapefruit segments (skip the syrup on the kids' portions) and served in hollowed-out halves.

One of the traditions of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, includes pairing honey with apples, in the hope of sweetness in the coming year. The custom is to dip apple slices into honey. I decided to combine the apples and honey in one cake. The result is moist, subtly spiced, and deliciously sweet. I bake this in a round pan, symbolic of the hoped-for fullness in the new year. This cake can be served not only on Rosh Hashanah but over the course of the year as well.

None of us expected to fall in love with this dish when we tested it, but we all did. Most Thermidor recipes yield something that tastes stodgy and heavy, but this version, by 1940s Gourmet chef Louis P. De Gouy, is almost sleek.

Buttery, slightly sweet pumpkin is the perfect mate for the briny flavor of oysters, scallops, or other crustaceans. This soup is made with shrimp, whose shells are turned into an aromatic stock that serves as the soup's liquid. Classic shellfish bisques are thickened with rice, but here pumpkin provides body for the soup. Sage's earthy flavor complements both pumpkin and shrimp and steers the focus of flavor from sweet to savory. This is a satisfying soup to prepare throughout the fall. If you serve it as a first course for Thanksgiving dinner, you might start a tradition in your family.

Sprinkle caraway seeds into tomato soup to begin the meal. Serve assorted mustards and pumpernickel bread with the choucroute, an Alsatian dish of sauerkraut and sausage. Then enjoy another flavor from Alsace: kirsch (clear cherry brandy), drizzled over cherry ice cream.

Mario Batali, star of the Food Network's Molto Mario, is one of the top chefs in New York City, where he owns three restaurants with Joe Bastianich — Babbo, Lupa and Esca. This dish, from Batali's book Simple Italian Food, is served at Lupa.

Chill the pie for at least six hours before serving — or make it up to two days ahead.

"Recently I had dinner at Highlands Bar & Grill in Birmingham, Alabama. To say I was dazzled by the baked grits is not overstating the case," writes Mary Lane Stiglets of Jackson, Mississippi. "This divine and truly southern recipe should be printed in your magazine for all to enjoy."

Combining smooth and grainy Dijon mustards results in a sauce that has both depth of flavor and satisfying texture.

In Indian restaurants, lassi is served with the meal, but we frequently find this exotic "smoothie" too filling to accompany a main course and prefer it in place of dessert. Look for the smaller, yellow-skinned mangoes, which have a more pronounced flavor than the larger, red and green ones.

In this dish, Elena Rovera prefers the clean, fruity flavor of Roero Arneis, a dry white wine from the Piedmont region of Italy. She typically serves the chicken with rosemary potatoes. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

This dessert is a dense and rich chocolate mousse-like cake chilled in a mold.

Carole McCallum, Sammamish, Wash.
"Instead of Kahlúa, try Grand Marnier, crème de cacao, or another liqueur. For a festive touch, add green or red sprinkles."

Since this cheesecake needs to chill for several hours, it's easiest to bake it a day ahead of time.

If anchovies rolled around capers aren't available, substitute a two-ounce can of anchovies plus one teaspoon of capers. serve with: Potato pancakes, chunky applesauce, and red-cabbage slaw.

Serve with: Mixed baby greens with shredded radishes in a citrus vinaigrette, and a sesame baguette.

As a working mother with four daughters, my mom had very little spare time, yet she always managed to turn out meals reminiscent of her native Canton, China. This dish, one of her specialties, takes its name from the moist, velvety texture the chicken gets from being poached at a low temperature. My mother loved the short preparation time (the chicken finishes cooking through heat retained in a covered pot) and that the poaching liquid can be strained and then chilled or frozen to be used again. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr