Poultry

In this simple chicken bake, the skin gets good and crispy, and the juices make the vegetables extra-succulent.

B'stilla, a traditional Moroccan recipe, was the inspiration for this savory pie. The dish consists of a spiced chicken filling sandwiched between layers of crisp phyllo pastry.

Julia Child's world-famous coq au vin recipe calls for the dramatic lighting of cognac. Traditional ones simply call for chicken, the contents of your crisper, and drinkable wine.

Replacing full-fat coconut milk with a light version reduces fat, not flavor.

This soup has many layers in its complexity, but the overall effect is of cleanness and freshness. An optional addition of jasmine rice makes a heartier meal.

Crisp-skinned duck breast really pops with the nutty, buttery flavor of tawny Port. Any leftover meat makes a terrific sandwich.

Cutting up a whole chicken is both economical and easy. (For a video of food editor Ian Knauer cutting up a chicken, visit gourmet.com.) Here, the pieces are simply tossed with spices and sweet onion before going into the oven.

There really isn't a lot of work involved in making chicken stock—you pretty much drop everything into a pot of water and let it simmer. What you do need, though, is time and patience to let the chicken, vegetables, and herbs transform the water into a golden, savory liquid that will make all the difference in soups and sauces.

"It's time for a little history lesson. Listen well. Some say that the word jambalaya came from the French word jambon for ham, the African ya meaning rice, and the Acadian phrase à la. And you must understand that there are brown jambalaya's, made by caramelizing and browning the onions and meats, and red ones, made by adding tomatoes. There are as many recipes for jambalaya as there are for gumbos in Louisiana. Personally, I like a bit of tomatoes in mine; I think it gives it a nice flavor. But I'll let you taste, and then you can make up your own mind," Eula Mae says. Jambalaya is also one of those popular Louisiana dishes that are very apropros for dining on the water. It's a one-pot meal, but you can serve it with a nice green salad and French bread. When you're browning the chicken and ham, scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. That gives the jambalaya a good flavor.

Here is a Cajun-style gumbo, a one-pot dish made with chicken and andouille from the farm, with the addition of salty oysters from the bays along the Gulf of Mexico. It is usually served with baked sweet potatoes or potato salad.

Roasted root vegetables and spicy greens complete the meal.

Sweet-and-spicy hoisin sauce is available in the Asian foods section of many supermarkets and at Asian markets.

Lean turkey cutlets benefit from a slightly sweet Marsala wine sauce and the twofold richness of prosciutto and Italian Fontina.

Polenta makes a supercrisp coating for panfried chicken breasts. Here, it's crowned with wilted escarole and dressed with a bright and briny sauce.

Anna Di Bene, Oltranti's grandmother, never let anything go to waste in her kitchen in Lucca, Italy. Whenever she cooked chicken, she saved the livers for this delicious antipasto. Spicy red-pepper flakes and salty capers cut through the richness of the topping.

Oltranti and his family prepare this dish with rabbit, but it's equally appealing with chicken. Roasted with super-savory pancetta and olives, the garlicky meat stays moist in a shallow bath of white wine.

This no-cook quickie dinner is less than 18 percent fat. Dig in!

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.