Squash

This nutty, satisfying puree— enriched with chicken fat for tradition's sake or pareve margarine—makes a nice bed for the roast duck.

Cooking by color might not be the surest way to devise holiday-appropriate recipes, but who can resist the lure of black linguine on Halloween? Tossing it with pumpkin-hued vegetables lusty with garlic and hot pepper might seem like hobgoblin overkill, except that the flavors work well together. Really well. So much so that you'll be making this pasta combination again and again, long after the jack-o-lanterns have disappeared.

Lightly caramelized slices of roasted squash make a tasty and pretty salad, dressed up with toasted almonds, crumbled cheese, and glistening swirls of Reduced Balsamic Vinegar (recipe follows), one of my favorite condiments. Serve this as an antipasto, a first course, or a side dish. With roast meat or poultry, it can be a main course salad too. How about a Thanksgiving leftover salad of roast squash and my roast turkey (page 332) with balsamic reduction and Quince Chutney (page 368)? Any sweet-fleshed winter squash is suitable, but I find the scalloped edges of acorn squash slices look especially nice.

For many, Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie is unthinkable, but that doesn't mean you can't jazz up the old standby.

This is not the cloying, candylike sweet potato side dish that is so often topped with marshmallows. Here, the vegetable's distinctive, mellow sweetness (as well as that of the acorn squash) is augmented by hints of brown sugar and nutmeg, so that the ingredients speak for themselves. Slicing the vegetables rather than puréeing them also imparts a lovely presence—the squash looks like happy smiles, the sweet potatoes like shining coins.

A pilaf enriched with butternut squash, red pepper, and toasted pumpkin seeds is wonderful with Spanish white beans and spinach. It would also be terrific with roast chicken.

A trifle is not only one of the most elegant desserts around, it's also one of the most exuberant—which is why it is tempting to toss aside decorum and dive right into the bowl. The nontraditional version here is sturdy, made with robust gingerbread and mellow pumpkin mousse instead of the classic spongecake and custard.

This fall soup is like putting on the first sweater of the season: it just feels so good. Although the soup takes several steps—roasting the squash and pears (which can be done a day ahead of time), cooking them, and finally pureeing the soup—none involve much from you. It's an easily made soup that will keep well for days—a great possibility for a holiday meal.

This is probably the most requested dish at my restaurant, davidburke & donatella. You can, of course, adjust the heat in this dish to your own palate. I really like it to have a powerful note. It is another terrific dish for entertaining as the rice, basil, and tomatoes can all be made in advance. The rice can be kept warm over hot water or it can be reheated in a microwave. The lobster can be cut up in advance, and then all that is left to do is to put it all together, which should take no more than twenty minutes.

Chilaquiles is a classic Southwestern casserole made from crumbled tortillas, tomato sauce, and cheese. Here, its savory flavors are augmented with black beans and zucchini.

This dish is particularly delicious in summer, when zucchini, peppers, and summer squash are farm-fresh. You can also pile the grilled vegetables onto crusty French bread that's been slathered in creamy chevre. Or make hors d'oeuvres by topping Crostini with slices of grilled vegetable and some crumbled chevre. The vegetables can be grilled up to 1 hour in advance; assemble just before serving.

Ratatouille is a vegetable stew from the south of France, traditionally made by slow cooking. By roasting the vegetables in a hot convection oven, the juices, flavors, and colors are quickly sealed in and the vegetables are succulent and remain distinguishable.

Chinese five-spice powder adds a complex, spicy note to this cake.

Brown sugar adds a deep, rich flavor to the soft filling. The nutty, slightly salty topping is the perfect finishing touch.

Beets don't often make an appearance on the Thanksgiving table—but they should. They add an earthy sweetness to this mix of roasted vegetables that also includes butternut squash, russets, and yams.

For a falling-off-the-bone roast (about $4 a pound), crack open a tenderizing can of beer.

When it comes to dessert, I am a chocoholic first and fruit-pie lover second; but after several test batches to perfect this cake, I am completely won over, and so is everyone who has tasted it. This is simply a spectacular cake—moist and light with spiced pumpkin flavor and sweet bites of coconut and pineapple. In addition, it is a snap to make. It requires two 9-inch cake pans to make the layers, but the cake itself can be mixed together with a rubber spatula and bowl. If all the cake ingredients are pre-measured and the cake pans prepared, this can be a fun kitchen project to do with children, especially since it can be made ahead and frozen.