Luna Park is one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants. Nice enough for a date, casual enough for a regular weeknight dinner, with great cocktails and a fun modern take on classic comfort food. Oh, and if you follow Luna Park on Twitter, you’ll see that they’re super generous with discounts and coupons.

Nearly every time I go, I order the Warm Goat Cheese Fondue with Grilled Bread and Sliced Apples—a little pot of bubbling goat cheese with crisp Granny Smith apples, sliced thinly enough to be delicate and thickly enough to hold all the gooey goat cheese goodness and crusty pieces of ciabatta that have been lightly charred on the grill. So. Freaking. Delicious.

On a recent visit, it occurred to me that these flavors might work nicely together in a sandwich, and, well…I was right.

• ingredients
• 4 slices good sandwich bread (I like sourdough) $2.50 for a loaf
• 3 oz. soft, spreadable goat cheese at room temperature 3.50 for 4 oz.
• salt and pepper to taste Pantry
• 1 Granny Smith apple, sliced very thinly $0.50
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature $1 for a stick

Total Cost of Ingredients $7.50

Directions

Spread all four slices of bread with the goat cheese. Place the apple slices on two of the bread slices, top with salt and pepper and cover each with the remaining two slices of goat cheese-spread bread.

Spread the outsides of the sandwiches with the butter. Set aside.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Grill sandwiches for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until the bread is golden-brown and crisp.

Serve warm, sliced on the diagonal.

Makes 2 sandwiches.

Usually, when I bite into a donut and find that it contains jelly on the inside, I am annoyed by the glutinous goo getting in the way of my light and fluffy donut. Sufganiyot, however, are a different story.

These special Hanukkah donuts are best served warm, with a lightly-crisp exterior and plenty of powdered sugar. They are a decadent traditional treat, fried in oil so as to honor the miracle of the Temple oil (just as with potato latkes).

I like to place a dot of jelly or jam atop the sugary confection to prepare guests for its fruity interior. Amazingly, these can be made with ordinary, inexpensive pizza dough, as with my Cinnamon-Sugar Donuts.

Happy Hanukkah!

• Ingredients
• all-purpose flour for rolling Pantry
• 1 recipe Pizza Dough $1.50
• jelly or jam of your choice $2.50 for 8 oz.
• vegetable oil for frying Pantry
• powdered sugar for dusting $1 for 16 oz.

Total Cost of Ingredients $5

Directions

On a floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1/2” thick. Use a small juice glass, wine glass or small biscuit cutter to cut the dough into 2” circles. Gather scraps and re-roll until all the dough has been cut into circles.

Place 2-3 tsp. jelly or jam in the center of a round of dough. Dip your finger in water and lightly run it around the edge of the circle. Cover with a second round of dough and gently fold the edge of the lower circle of dough over the upper circle to seal tightly. Repeat with remaining dough rounds.

Pour 2” of vegetable oil in a large pot. Heat over medium-high heat to about 375 degrees F (if you don’t have a thermometer, check by dropping a small piece of dough into the bubbling oil—the oil is ready when the dough quickly puffs and browns).

Fry the donuts, working batches, until brown and puffy (watch them the whole time that they cook). Use tongs to carefully flip them as necessary.

Remove cooked donuts from the hot oil using tongs and drain on paper towels.

Let cool until warm (not hot) to the touch. Dust with powdered sugar and top each donut with a dot of jelly/jam.

Serve warm.

Makes 10-12 donuts.

Sometimes comfort food means ooey-gooey mac and cheese and sometimes it means a big piece of sumptuous lasagna. Today, it means herb-y, lemony, garlicky chicken legs with melt-in-your-mouth sweet potatoes and silky onions that caramelize right in the pan. And almost zero effort.

• ingredients
• 2 chicken legs, skin intact $5.50
• salt and pepper Pantry
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling Pantry
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped Pantry
• leaves from 2 twigs fresh rosemary, chopped roughly $1 for a bunch
• 1 lemon, zested and sliced $0.50
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, skin intact, scrubbed and chopped $1
• 1 red onion, peeled and quartered $0.50

Total Cost of Ingredients $8.50

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Liberally season the chicken all over with salt and pepper. Transfer to a large baking dish.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, rosemary and lemon zest. Stir to combine.

Rub chicken legs all over (including between the flesh and the skin) with oil mixture. Tuck a few slices of lemon between the flesh and the skin and place a few on top of the skin.

Place the sweet potatoes and onions in a mixing bowl. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Arrange in pan, surrounding the chicken legs.

Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and roast, covered for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until skin is golden brown.

Serve immediately.

Serves 2.

Once, while teaching a cooking class to a group of men in their early twenties, I was asked what makes Arborio rice so special. Without thinking, I replied “When Arborio rice cooks, it shoots out a creamy, rich-tasting white liquid.” Needless to say, they cracked up and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

Though my poor choice of words probably had Freud rolling over in his grave, I was speaking the truth. Arborio rice, a short-grain rice native to Italy, is perfect for dishes like arancini or risotto or because it does most of the work for you in cooking. In this recipe (which was adapted from The Barefoot Contessa’s version), cooked, cooled Arborio rice is stirred into creamy yogurt, eggs, mozzarella and fresh vegetables and formed into sticky cakes, which are dredged in bread crumbs and lightly fried. They are crisp on the outside and creamy and flavorful on the inside. I serve them over lightly-dressed greens to provide a little relief from the richness of the cakes.

Serve these as a starter to a multi-course meal or as a vegetarian main course.

Let’s be honest: turkey is nice, but the real point of Thanksgiving is the side dishes (and, you know, friends and family and giving of thanks and all that). On my table this year will be Brown Butter-Pumpkin Mac and Cheese, Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Lemon, Balsamic Cranberry Sauce and this rich, savory bread pudding-like stuffing, featuring salty, crispy bacon, ripe persimmons, tart Granny Smith apples, crunchy almonds and all kinds of holiday love.

• ingredients
• 1 baguette, cut into 1” cubes $1.50
• extra virgin olive oil Pantry
• 3 cups vegetable, chicken or turkey broth $2.50 for 32 oz.
• 2 eggs $1.50 for 12
• 3 strips thick-cut, uncured bacon, diced $1
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped Pantry
• 1 red onion, diced $0.50
• 2 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced (leave the peel on) $1
• 1 Fuyu persimmon, diced $0.50
• 1 10-oz. box frozen spinach $1.50
• 6 fresh sage leaves, chopped $1 for a bunch
• salt and pepper to taste Pantry
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds $2.50 for 8 oz.

Total Cost of Ingredients $13.50

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9“x13” baking dish with olive oil and set aside.

Place the bread cubes in a bowl and toss with 1/8 cup olive oil until well-coated. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until crisp and golden-brown. Leave the oven on.

In a large bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of the broth and the eggs. Add the toasted bread cubes and allow to soak until ready to use.

Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat and fry the bacon until crisp and brown. Reduce heat to medium and add the garlic and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until onion is translucent, 2-3 minutes.

Add apples and persimmon to the pan and cook 2-3 minutes until apples soften. Add spinach and cook just until spinach has defrosted, 2-3 minutes.

Increase heat to medium-high and add the soaked bread cubes. Stir gently to incorporate.

Slowly add the broth, 1/2 cup at a time, until it has been absorbed (the stuffing will be very wet). Add the sage, salt and pepper to taste and almonds and stir very gently, so as not to break apart the bread cubes.

Scrape stuffing into prepared pan and bake for 55-65 minutes, or until the stuffing is firm and the top is crisp (the inside should stay moist).

Serves 6-8.