Pearl Onion

For this dish, balsamic vinegar adds the sweetness needed to balance the sharp flavor of red wine vinegar.

Whoever believes that bread-based stuffing is the only one worth eating hasn’t tried this wild rice version. Alongside perfectly cooked poultry, its blend of sweet and savory stands out as a great-tasting, healthier alternative to plain old stuffing. Pearl onions are sweeter than their larger cousins and they add a nice visual touch, so seek them out in the market’s frozen section. And to fortify nutrients, substitute with brown rice, which requires a little more cooking time than white.

Peas and onions are a classic holiday duo. Relying on frozen ones, along with a quick béchamel, is a smart move on a busy day of cooking.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

Okay, rabbit is a traditional meat and curry is a classic sauce, but who knew they went together? Of course, in curry-crazy Britain, you shouldn't be surprised. Traditionally, this dish is called a Scottish curry, but it's really just a British rabbit stew with curry added.

We used frozen pearl onions, but you could use fresh instead. To peel, place them in boiling water for 1 minute, and then let them cool slightly before slipping off their papery skins.

You can substitute frozen pearl onions for fresh, if you like, and skip step 1.

This recipe uses the shredded meat and tomato pieces left over from making the beef stock (recipe follows). Serve over egg noodles or rice.

It’s hard to improve upon a standard, but this recipe for chicken potpie does just that. Each individual serving is topped with a ruffle-edged round of herb-flecked dough. The filling contains all the usual, well-loved components, but the creamy sauce is brightened with lemon zest.

Sled Dog, a malty, full-bodied craft lager with notes of caramel and chocolate, is the key ingredient in Wagner Valley’s version of Carbonnades Flamande, Belgium’s rich national dish. The hearty stew is an excellent bracer against our cold, snowy winter days in the Finger Lakes.

GOOD TO KNOW Soaking pearl and cipollini onions in warm water for just ten minutes makes their thin, tight skin easier to remove. After soaking, simply cut off the root end and peel back the skin. If you can’t find pearl or cipollini onions, you can substitute one large or two small yellow onions, each cut into eight wedges.