Fall

Cranberries add sparkle to the meal.

A "buck" is a traditional type of drink containing a spirit, lemon or lime juice, and ginger ale. Julie Reiner, the owner-mixologist of New York's Clover Club cocktail bar, serves this version during the holiday season. It has a Scotch whisky base (she prefers the light flavor of Famous Grouse, but you can use any brand) and a balanced mix of autumnal and winter flavors: pear, allspice (infused into a simple syrup before making the cocktail), ginger, and cinnamon. The recipe makes more allspice syrup than you'll need, but the extra will keep for up to three weeks and is delicious in glögg or a Tom & Jerry It can also be served as a nonalcoholic beverage, sans Scotch.

These come out extra-crispy when you use a pizza stone. If you don’t have one, a heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet works well; invert it so that you can remove the pizza easily.

A vegetarian spin on rillettes, the rich, creamy pàté traditionally made with duck or pork.

Be sure to use whole milk and whisk the batter by hand (overbeating with an electric mixer may prevent the puddings from puffing and rising).

The traditional latke accompaniment is amped up with fragrant rosemary and nutty brown butter.

Simple and beautiful. If you can’t find small carrots, use medium ones, halved and cut into five-inch pieces.

Here, chanterelles provide a delicate but satisfying topping for baked fish.

The restaurant switches up this dish from time to time, substituting scallops or foie gras for the duck. The lentil puree would also be a great accompaniment to chicken or pork.

A big, beautiful soufflé with a festive chestnut flavor. You’ll need to bake the dessert right before serving, but you can make the soufflé base (minus the egg whites) two hours ahead, then fold in the whites up to one hour before baking.

Juicy, buttery roasted grapes top this simple ricotta dessert.

You might run across purslane, with its glossy, plump leaves, at a farmers market—and you might even find it growing in the cracks of your sidewalk or in your yard. Luckily, this incredibly nutritious and juicy green is a weed, which means it pops up wild nearly everywhere. Lots of chopped parsley and a simple vinaigrette flatter its herbal, lemony crunch.

To intensify the flavor of the compote, Jeanne cooks the plums with their pits. Any leftover compote would be delicious spooned over vanilla ice cream.

As the pumpkin roasts, its skin becomes gorgeously burnished, while inside, slices of baguette, Gruyère, and Emmental coalesce into a rich, velvety concoction that is utterly fabulous served with a scoop of tender pumpkin flesh.

Trim the tops and tails of the beets to 1 inch.