Thyme

Garnish the turkey with bunches of fresh thyme, sage and parsley.

When the weather turns chilly, a dinner of perfectly cooked duck, with crispy skin, rosy succulent meat, and a balanced fruity sauce, is something to dream about. This duck dish delivers all these things. It calls for whole ducks which can be found fresh or frozen in most supermarkets for a price per pound not much more than chicken. The breast and leg meat are removed from the carcass and marinated. The carcass is made into stock, strained, and boiled down into a rich sauce. When it's time to cook the duck, the legs are baked in the oven until fully cooked, tender, and crispy, and the breasts are sautéed on top of the stove until the skin crisps but the meat is still rosy. If you are not confident cutting up the duck yourself, buy a fresh duck from a butcher, who will cut it for you. Don't let the many steps scare you off. The result is well worth it, and you can do much of the work the day ahead. The day before, or the morning of serving day: Cut up the duck and marinate it; make the duck stock (3 hours); and strain the stock and boil it down to make the sauce (1 hour). **20 minutes before serving:**Begin cooking the duck breasts. 45 minutes before serving: Begin cooking the duck legs; reheat the sauce. 5 minutes before serving: Allow the duck to rest, then slice and serve.

Here's a special-occasion roast enhanced with classic Provençal seasonings. Roasting two large ends of tenderloin instead of one whole piece ensures even cooking. (The meat needs to be coated with its aromatic rub, then chilled for at least six hours before roasting.) Serve this elegant dish with <epi:recielink id="2999">Scalloped Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Herbes de Provence</epi:recielink> and a sauté of green beans, zucchini and red bell pepper. Uncork a sophisticated Rhône red such as Hermitage or Crozes-Hermitage.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

We make this rich, intensely flavored stock for our mushroom soups, sauces, and ragouts. The dried shiitake mushrooms give the stock depth and tremendous flavor. They're readily available in the Asian section of most grocery stores, but if you can't find them, substitute another variety of dried mushrooms — fresh mushrooms alone will make a weak stock. This stock freezes well.

Be sure to bake these breadsticks until they are very crisp.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Tomato time is the best time to put this do-ahead soup on the menu.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

At the restaurant Becco in New York, where this dish is served, fresh porcini mushrooms are used when they are in season.

This is a handy recipe for families where the kids have less sophisticated tastes than the adults. Without doing more work or cooking something different, you can please everyone. Because this recipe is quick but requires tending to, be sure to finish whatever side dish you're serving first. I like this with plain cracked wheat or rice, or steamed potatoes or broccoli.

Start with mugs of tomato soup, then serve a tossed green salad with these open-face sandwiches. To wrap up such a straightforward Rocky Mountain-style dinner, put out giant sugar cookies, a basket of pears and a bowl of candied almonds. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

In the eighties, the popularity of this homestyle dish caused take-out rotisserie chicken shops to spring up across the country.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

An herb crust and special Zinfandel sauce give new meaning to the word flavorful. What to drink: A full-bodied, tannin-rich Bordeaux or Cabernet Sauvignon.

Not your typical corn bread dressing, this one from Michael McLaughlin features smoky ham and sautéed fennel.