Appetizers

Pass around a platter of these curried eggs to enjoy before — or with — the BLTs.

Many of us regularly season food with a sprinkling of black pepper, but rarely do we use it as a bold flavor stroke. Black pepper, when it’s more than a background note, can engage the senses with a warming bite and an aroma that reminds me, to varying degrees, of chili, cloves, and citrus. In this recipe, buttery cashews get a hearty coating of black pepper to become a sweet-savory, and distinctly warming, nibble.

After an hour or so in the oven, individual cloves of garlic become sweet, carmelized and infinately spread-able. 

Crispy sweet potato fries can actually be made at home, which I tried more than a dozen times recently. Cutting the potatoes into strips and roasting in a light film of oil is a healthy approach for the holiday table and helps unleash the potatoes' flavor. The best and least oily were coated with canola oil and spices and roasted in a hot oven, which yields great fries if you exercise some patience and diligence in the last 10 minutes.

AYTEKIN YAR, the executive chef at Dardanel on the Upper East Side, eats mucver — delicate, crisp zucchini pancakes — at four in the afternoon, before he starts cooking for the dinner crowd. “I love it because it’s tasty, and it’s not heavy,” Mr. Yar said. His version of mucver (pronounced MOOSH-vair) has not just shredded zucchini, but also tiny clouds of feta and a sprinkling of minced fresh dill and scallions. They are crisp on the outside, tender within and subtly herbaceous. Mr. Yar was born in Turkey, and his grandmother and mother made the dish a bit differently there.

"Serve these marinated vegetables as a salad or as an appetizer. Optional add ins include: pitted Greek olives, cubes of feta cheese, and thin slices of Maui or Walla Walla onion." Blanch broccoli and cauliflower for one minute in boiling water before adding to other ingredients - red bell pepper, cucumber and carrots. Splash with a nice Italian salad dressing and let the flavors mingle for a bit in the refrigerator before serving.