Potato

These tasty treats were inspired by steakhouse flavors. For those who observe the kosher prohibition against serving meat and dairy together, they're delicious on their own. If you don't keep kosher, try them alongside grilled and roasted poultry and meat.

Tender, rich, and browned on top, this easy potato gratin gets loads of flavor from a very minimal amount of blue cheese that is added at the last minute.

With ingredients like bacon, garlic, and butter, how could this hearty casserole be anything but wonderful? You'll definitely wish you'd made more.

These Southwestern pancakes are vibrant to the eye and the palate. For a spicier version, leave in some — or even all — of the jalapeño seeds.

Inspired by aloo paratha, Indian potato bread, these pancakes are loaded with flavorful herbs and spices.

Cod and potato are the cornerstones of one of the classics of American cooking: fish chowder. Here they take on a new form as the basis for these distinctly New England potato pancakes.

New potatoes are simply young spuds of any variety that haven't converted all their sugar to starch. We like them because they are small enough to be cooked whole and are excellent boiled or pan-roasted.

Boiled first to ensure tenderness all the way through, these spuds gain a smoky flavor and crackly roasted skin from a brief stint on the grill. If you have fresh rosemary left over from the Grilled Poussins with Lemon Herb Butter, strip off all but the top 1 inch of leaves and skewer the potatoes on the woody stems—it looks beautiful on the serving plate and gives the potatoes a lovely perfume.

The turbot is roasted on a thin cake of overlapping potato slices and then sauced with a simple pan sauce, garnished with tomatoes and black olives. Turbot is rarely available in the United States, but another flatfish such as a fluke or flounder makes a good substitute. You will need a mandoline or other vegetable slicer to slide the potatoes very thin. Ovenproof nonstick frying pans work best here, so the potato cakes don't stick, but if necessary you can use other 8-inch frying pans or cake pans; line them with rounds of parchment paper.

With two hues of cabbage and two kinds of apples, as well as carrots and yams, this multi-colored slaw will look gorgeous on a picnic or buffet table.

Potatoes in three colors give this salad an all-American look.

Only in summer, when baby vegetables are so wonderful and elegant looking, could a one-skillet side dish seem so fancy. A gentle simmer and just a little olive oil and butter enhance the vegetables' natural sweetness — no more effort is necessary.

This salad is no bland picnic side dish: Slices of deli ham and bits of salty bacon give it hearty main-course appeal.

If your pulse quickens at the suggestion of salt and vinegar potato chips, you'll be hooked on this warm potato salad after one bite. A little Old Bay seasoning gives it a modest kick.

This light chowder with a subtle note of smokiness really lets the scallops shine.

Ca ri ga Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham and are part of our story on Lunar New Year. True to the Vietnamese style of curry-making, this recipe is milder and lighter than Indian or Thai curries. You can make this with chicken stock, but the coconut milk adds body and enhances the overall flavor. Depending on my mood and the time of year, I sometimes serve this with a warmed baguette (a French influence) instead of steamed rice. Other times, I just make the curry with more broth and serve it with rice noodles. Like other curries, it's delicious the next day.

There's no need to set up a deep fryer to make great potato chips—the oven is just fine.