Dairy

Potato pancakes get a makeover, and so do you! These have lots of vitamin A, which will help keep your skin healthy for the holidays.

These rich nibbles only taste decadent. Soft goat cheese is naturally lower in fat.

Martha mastered this classic dish during the couple's time in Italy. It's still one of her favorite recipes.

In Martha's family, cornbread is made without eggs or sugar. If you prefer sweet cornbread, mix 6 tablespoons sugar in with the dry ingredients. Either version is delicious served with butter and honey.

Mix in sautéed 1/2-inch cubes of butternut squash, if you like.

Pastourma (also spelled basturma) is seasoned, cured beef.

Chef Tracht likes an assertive sauce, so she uses extra-hot prepared horseradish. For a milder sauce, use less horseradish or the regular-strength variety.

Make this recipe your own by using different sausages and cheeses. For a Middle Eastern spin, sub in lamb sausage and feta. Serve pizzas with hot sauce.

Wilted radicchio and spinach are a nice match for spicy red pepper flakes and smoky, salty bacon. Treviso—with its not-too-tough (but also not-too-tender) leaves—is the best choice for this recipe if you can find it.

Here, radicchio is paired with another member of the chicory family: frisée. With Sherry vinegar, feta, oranges, and Kalamatas, this salad has great Mediterranean flavor.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Rick Tramonto's book Fantastico! This is the ultimate vehicle for any number of toppings. The quality of the bread, as well as the olive oil, makes all the difference, so make sure the crust is crisp and the middle is soft and chewy. Buy it fresh from a good bakery. This is an example of two ingredients making the difference between good and truly great. Enjoy the ride!

Going beyond the customary side dishes for beef (mushrooms and a gratin), we've combined all the luxurious flavor of wild mushrooms sautéed in cream with good buttered toast for these single-serving puddings, giving every guest a perfect mix of crisp, golden surface and warm, melting interior.

The zing of fresh lemon enhances both the peas' sweetness and the natural flavor of the spinach. The whole quick, creamy dish is bolstered by soft pillows of potato gnocchi.

The broiled disks of polenta in this dish bring to mind an extra-delicious version of johnnycakes, topped with a hearty, savory ragout that's ready before you know it.

This style of frying eggs results in crisp, crackly whites and beautiful, barely set yolks. The spicy garlic oil and smoked mozzarella make this dish an unusual but delicious brunch or light dinner.

Here, a classic Spanish pairing gets reinvented as a bite-size cheese course. We're particularly enamored of the added textural contrast provided by the sliced almonds.

These sexy little bites have a flavor as sharp as Dorothy Parker's wit. And because they're toasted with butter in the oven, they taste deliciously fried (only without the regret).

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Carole Bloom's book The Essential Baker. One of my favorite treats when I was growing up was malted milk balls. I couldn't seem to get enough of them. I vividly remember biting through the crunchy exterior of milk chocolate to find the malt ball inside. Yum! I still love the flavor of malt and believe it goes well with milk chocolate. This cheesecake is inspired by those malted milk balls I loved as a child. It's dense and creamy, with a crunchy cookie crust and a deep malt flavor. As with other cheesecakes, this one has to be made in advance of serving because it needs hours to cool and chill. But it also freezes beautifully, so you can make it well in advance of when you plan to serve it.

My friends Renée and Carl Behnke are consummate hosts and gourmands, and fried chicken is one of their favorite dishes to offer a hungry crowd. Renée's secret for an amazingly crispy and crunchy crust, which is now mine (and yours), is to let the chicken rest in flour as the oil heats. I have adapted her recipe, giving it an Indian twist. Indians (like many southern Americans) love buttermilk, so it's natural to use it as a liquid for the overnight brine. I add spices to the brine and flour coating to give the chicken an extra hit of flavor.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Anne Willan's book The Country Cooking of France. La Truffade If you can't afford truffles, you indulge in Truffade, say the inhabitants of the Auvergne, notoriously among the coldest and most rugged areas of France. Often served with sausages, Truffade is a potato cake flavored with bacon and laden with cheese, a buttress against the worst weather. Nippy Cantal is the local hard cheese, and Gruyère may be substituted.