Beet

Thanksgiving timing tip: If you have only one oven, you can prepare this dish ahead and serve it at room temperature, leaving plenty of room in the oven for the turkey.

To maximize the flavor of this salad, toss the beets with the dressing while they're still warm, so they'll absorb more of it. Sunflower seeds turn rancid fairly quickly, so it's important to purchase them from a place with high turnover, such as a natural foods store. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

This recipe is from chef Peter Doyle from Cicada in Sydney. "This dish is a play on Maltaise sauce, but in a lighter, fresher version more conducive to our climate."

"I love green vegetables and always make an effort to do something special with them for dinner parties," says Jeanne Thiel Kelley, contributing editor to Bon Appétit. "Brussels sprouts are a Thanksgiving staple at our house, and this year I'm dressing them up with colorful golden beets that I buy at farmers' markets, as well as crunchy turnips and sautéed hazelnuts. For convenience, the vegetables can be cooked a day ahead and then reheated. You can use regular beets instead of golden, but they should be sautéed separately and combined with the other vegetables just before serving, or the beets will turn everything red."

Stephen Bull is one of the wunderkinder of new British cooking. At his latest venture, Fulham Road in London, his Irish chef, Richard Corrigan, serves this dish along with his rendition of beef bavarois.

This recipe was created to accompany Delphey's Cold Cucumber Soup.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 15 min

Unfortunately, beets are not on the top-ten list of favorite foods for many people. Most people hate them because they've only eaten them boiled or canned, but I was fortunate enough to try the real thing at an early age. So they're on my top-ten list, and this recipe might just be a great way to get them on yours. The roasting brings out the sweetness and intensifies the depth of flavor that is lost when you boil. Once you roast a beet, you'll never go back. Don't throw away the beet greens: braise or sauté them if they are large, or add them to salad greens if they are small. The rich, thick Walnut Gorgonzola Dressing is also great on burgers or grilled portobello mushrooms or mixed into greens.

A colorful dish with fresh — and surprisingly compatible — flavors.

Sour cream and beets are inseparable in Eastern European cooking. Here's a fresh new way to enjoy them together.

The lively dressing lends a little zip to this fresh-tasting, colorful salad.

Nice with grilled or roasted meat, fish or fowl.

This tart is delicious on its own, but the garnish of crisp raw beet shreds brings added intrigue. To slice paper-thin spirals of beet, we used a Japanese rotary device known as the Benriner spiral vegetable slicer. This gadget is available from Katagiri, tel. (212) 755-3566, and from Williams-Sonoma, tel. (800) 541-2233 (ask for the "spiral shredder").