30-Minute Holiday Recipes

Scott Conant makes his crisp-tender beans with ground ginger, since freshly grated ginger invariably creates unappealing little chunks.

Mario Carbone tops the oysters with a tangy vinegar-shallot mignonette, plus a Champagne-infused foam and frozen Champagne grapes.

A splash of pear brandy plus maple syrup and Spanish almonds put a modern spin on baked Brie.

Jeff Cerciello blends olive, canola and hazelnut oils to give depth to the dressing for this fantastic winter salad. For even more color, use both red and white endives.

Sylvan Mishima Brackett makes these meatballs, known as tsukune, with hand-chopped meat and skin from the best pastured chicken he can get.

To make her fonduta, the Italian version of fondue, Linda Meyers uses pungent Fontina instead of the Gruyère often found in Swiss recipes. For a splurge, she recommends shaving on white truffles just before serving.

Rice-flake cereal, seasoned nori (seaweed flavored with sesame oil and salt), miso and wasabi come together in this light, munchable, Asian-inspired riff on Chex Mix.

Garlic and fresh parsley make this the best-ever version of an old-fashioned pizza parlor salad.

This delicious, healthy salad makes use of sweet broccoli stems.

To make sure this gratin is rich and luscious, be sure to squeeze all the excess liquid from the spinach before adding the béchamel.

Raita (a classic yogurt sauce) is great as a snack on its own or with grilled meat.

For an ingenious twist on the classic combination of broccoli and melted cheddar, Barbara Lynch serves a warming broccoli soup with cheddar crisps. Try making the crisps with Mimolette, an orange-hued semihard cheese from France, which has a milder, nuttier flavor than cheddar. The soup is equally good with cauliflower or celery rootin place of the broccoli.

Almond butter is easy to find in stores, but making it with smoked almonds in the food processor is crazy easy, and the savory flavor is really unusual. Spread the butter on apples, pears, fennel and celery.

Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito firmly believe that homemade hot chocolate is superior to any commercial mix. They make their decadent version with both bittersweet and milk chocolate and then top it with marshmallows that they make and sell at Baked.

"I'm more addicted to chocolate than I am to sugar," says chocolatier Jacques Torres. A small piece of this super-chunky dark-chocolate bark staves off his intense cravings.

Plus: Homemade Christmas Gifts

 Fast Chocolate Desserts