What to Cook

Creamy Buttermilk Potatoes

My favorite way to make mashed potatoes—a little lumpy, very creamy, lots of butter, some buttermilk for tang, and lots of black pepper and chives.

Apple Cinnamon Tart

The only thing I can think about eating after eating, you know, everything else: a simple flaky buttery apple tart.

Cheater’s Turkey Stock

If you have the time or desire (or both) to make your own turkey stock from additional parts and bones before Thanksgiving cooking gets started, feel free. The rest of us can doctor store-bought broth with the “extra” parts of the turkey.

Leafy Herb Salad

This salad is more an idea than a recipe. Perfectly paired with big meals.

Fancy Canned Cranberries

The ultimate high-low condiment your table didn’t know it was missing. These dressed-up canned cranberries become tart, juicy and a little bit savory thanks to some fresh citrus, thinly sliced red onion and a little flaky salt.

Dry-Brined Turkey With Sheet-Pan Gravy

For those who want to let the side dishes do the talking, this is the bird for you. Delightfully simple, it’s dry-brined (meaning highly seasoned) with only salt, pepper, some thyme and a little brown sugar, which helps with that golden-brown skin.

Green Beans and Greens With Fried Shallots

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Crushed Sour Cream Potatoes

These extremely rich, highly textured potatoes are no less luxurious than the silky mashed variety, but they are a lot less work. There’s no ricing, mashing or whipping — just a simple crush to expose the potatoes’ craggy interior. From here on out, the key word is “cream”.

Spicy Caramelized Squash With Lemon and Hazelnuts

As we enter the period where the farmers market is mostly just squash, lean into it by making this bright, spicy side dish.

Grilled Corn and Scallion Salad

The corn is very, very good right now, and you should make this corn salad to celebrate.

Lentils (Daal) with Fried Lemon and Garlic

While red, yellow or brown lentils/daal would work here (black and green will never fully achieve that porridge-like texture, so I would not use them here), I prefer yellow or red because I am superficial and I think those are the most gorgeous quick-cooking lentils.

Spicy Fried Chicken

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Anchovy Apple Apricot Artichoke Arugula Asparagus

Bacon Banana Beans & Legumes Beef Blue Cheese Blueberry Bread Brisket Broccoli Broccoli Rabe Buttermilk

Cabbage Capers Carrot Cauliflower Celery Chicken Chickpeas Chiles Chocolate Cinnamon Citrus Clams Coconut Corn Cornmeal Cranberries Cucumber

Dates Dill

Egg Eggplant Escarole

Farro Fennel Feta

Grapefruit Green Beans

Harissa Hazelnut Hominy Horseradish

Kale

Labne Lamb Leek Lemon Lentils Lettuce Lime

Maple Syrup Matzo Mushrooms Mustard

Olive Onion Orange

Panko Parmesan Parsley Peach Peas Pecan Pecorino Pepperoncini Pickles Pistachio Plum Pork Potato Puff Pastry

Radicchio Radish Red Onion Ricotta Rutabaga

Sage Salmon Sardines Sausage Scallions Sesame Shallot Shrimp Squash Steak Strawberry

Tahini Tarragon Tofu Tomatillo Tomato Tortilla Trout Tuna Turkey

Walnuts

Zucchini