Dinner

This easy Snapper Crudo with Chiles and Sesame frees you up to prepare the side dishes.

This Mustard-Crusted Branzino is great butterflied—a quick and easy method for cooking a whole fish. Ask your fishmonger to do it for you.

This spinach is great on its own, but paired with a quick-cooking protein like flounder, you have dinner in about 20 minutes.

Asian pears are worth seeking out if you can find them—their crunch is unparalleled. Regular apples will do as a substitute in a pinch.

A simple, straightforward cornbread that we’d happily serve alongside a bowl of chili on any other day of the year.

In place of Stilton, you could use a creamy blue cheese, like Gorgonzola dolce, which is a little less assertive.

Drying out and toasting the cornbread in the first step of this recipe guarantees a crisp, flavorful dressing.

Yeasted doughs might seem daunting to novice bakers, but these rolls are very simple to make.

Yes, you can grill a whole turkey. The bird sits in a foil baking pan on top of the grates, so there’s no danger of it burning. The hardest part is maintaining the grill temperature (a thermometer eliminates the guesswork). Need more convincing? Imagine Thanksgiving Day with the oven freed up!

Losing the mashed potatoes would just be insane, but even classics can be tweaked. The tang of sour cream gives the illusion that this recipe is not as rich as the cream, butter, and milk would imply. The next day? Form leftover potatoes into cakes and fry them up—in butter, of course.

The dressing should be emulsified when you add the butter. Keeping it warm will prevent it from separating, but if it does, add a couple drops of water and whisk again to bring it back together.

Look to Mexico, where turkey has been the big bird for centuries. Continue the theme by using the leftovers for tacos (corn tortillas, shredded meat, lime…). We promise you won’t miss your sandwich.

We make lots of things from scratch on Thanksgiving, but pumpkin purée isn’t one of them. Libby’s is our favorite brand.

Adding sour cream to the dough imparts richness and a bit of tang, and doesn’t thin it out too much.

This thin, crisp Turkish flatbread is typically rolled into a cone before eating.

If you like your carrot soup extra spicy, pass some chili sauce at the table. The coconut balances out the heat.

Crispy shallots are an addictive garnish on this slaw.

If you don’t have a steamer basket, improvise: Place a ramekin in the bottom of the pot and prop a dinner plate on top so steam can circulate around it.

Bone-in turkey breasts are easy to find, and as impressive as a whole bird when you roast them in butter and herbs.

In place of collards, you can make this with the same amount of curly or Tuscan kale.

We recommend using a finely ground cornmeal for these; it will give them the ideal texture.

Aptly named beluga lentils look like little beads of caviar. They cook quickly, and they hold their shape. Use them in this recipe, or substitute.

Choose dried chiles that are fairly flexible, a sign they’re not too old.

This recipe can easily be doubled to serve eight, instead.