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Total time: 2 hours, 45 minutes, plus 3 days marinating time and 1 to 3 days chilling time

Servings: 14 ( 1/4 -cup) servings

Note: From Suzanne Goin of A.O.C. Pork fat back and belly are available at Asian markets and through quality butchers; pork shoulder is widely available. Start the recipe at least four days before you plan to serve.

1/2 pound pork fat back, cut into 1/4 -inch dice

1 pound pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch dice

1 pound pork belly, cut into 1-inch dice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon thyme leaves

1 bay leaf, coarsely torn

1 cup diced onion

2/3 cup minced shallots

2/3 cup dry white wine

1. In a large, nonreactive baking dish, place the diced pork fat back, shoulder and belly in separate mounds and sprinkle each evenly with the salt, a pinch of pepper, the bay leaf and thyme. Massage the seasoning into each separate mound with your hands, then cover and refrigerate for 3 days.

2. In a medium nonreactive pot, add half the seasoned pork fat and cook over low heat until the fat is melted. Add the remaining pork and cook, stirring often, until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Add the onion and shallots and continue to cook until translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the wine and increase the heat so the mixture just simmers. Cook until the wine has evaporated and the meat shreds easily, 20 to 30 minutes.

3. Strain the fat from the pork and set both aside until cool enough to handle. Shred the meat with your fingers into a large mixing bowl. Season additionally, if desired. Stir, adding additional fat as needed, until the meat achieves a spreadable consistency.

4. Pack the pork in a terrine or nonreactive loaf pan. Lightly cover it with plastic wrap. Place a board or book that will fit inside the pan and weight this down with something heavy, such as a couple of cans or a brick. Refrigerate overnight or longer (Goin recommends 3 days) before serving. Serve at room temperature with coarsely ground black pepper.

Each serving: 272 calories; 9 grams protein; 3 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 24 grams fat; 9 grams saturated fat; 48 mg. cholesterol; 117 mg. sodium.

Note: Adapted from Patricia Rubalcava. Abuelita and Ibarra Mexican chocolate tablets are available at most grocery stores. Champurrado can be garnished with cinnamon sticks, if desired.

2 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks

1/2 pound fresh masa (1 heaping cup), divided

4 (3.15-ounce) Mexican chocolate tablets, broken into small pieces

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

1 (15-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 quart milk

Sugar, if desired, to taste

1. In a 2-gallon stock pot, bring 2 quarts of water and the cinnamon sticks to a boil over high heat.

2. Meanwhile, in a blender, combine half of the masa with 1 quart water to form a slurry (the blender should be three-fourths full). Add the rest of the masa to the slurry and blend to combine. Add the masa slurry in a thin, steady stream to the cinnamon water and stir to combine, still over high heat.

3. Add the chocolate pieces to the blender, along with the evaporated and condensed milks. Blend the chocolate mixture completely, then slowly stir it into the stock pot. Stir in the milk.

4. Continue to cook until the mixture comes to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. Adjust the consistency by whisking in additional masa as desired, gently boiling the mixture a few minutes to allow the masa to cook and thicken. Adjust sweetness as desired with sugar.

5. Remove the champurrado from the heat and strain to remove the cinnamon sticks. Serve immediately, or cool and refrigerate until needed. It will keep for 3 days refrigerated.

Each serving: 210 calories; 5 grams protein; 31 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 8 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 17 mg. cholesterol; 88 mg. sodium.

FOR years, our family recipe for plum cake was so inextricably linked to Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, that I could not even fathom the idea of one without the other.

We weren’t alone. Back in the ’80s, this recipe for a soft, airy, buttery torte topped with plums and perfumed with cinnamon sugar — made popular by Marian Burros in The New York Times — made the rounds among New York Jews of my parents’ generation. It became a nearly ubiquitous addition to the holiday table, as important as the apples and honey and just as sweet.

It never occurred to me to make any other kind of plum cake. And it might never have, had I not fallen in love with a certain sour-cherry cake recipe I stumbled upon this summer.

It was everything the plum cake was not. Sturdy and dense, it had a coarse crumb and deep, nutty flavor from whole-wheat flour. The cherries melted into the cake, leaving chewy, scarlet craters. It, too, was delightful, but in a rustic way. 

I made the cake a few times, tweaking it to try to lighten the texture slightly without compromising its whole-wheat nuttiness. When sour-cherry season was done, I still was not.

I had a few more variations to try out, including reducing the granulated sugar in the batter so I could sprinkle the surface with crunchy Demerara sugar. I imagined the cake would seem almost like a crumble with a bumpy topping covering jamlike fruit.

So, I made the cake with other fruit: blueberries, peaches and raspberries. All were nice, but none were as compelling as the cherries, which had just the right degree of tartness to balance the sugar while their brightness mitigated the earthy whole-wheat flour.

I searched my brain for a better substitute and came up with plums. They can be almost as tangy as sour cherries, and profoundly spicy, too. If I could perfect the recipe, I could surprise my family with something new for the holiday.

I set to work, buying an assortment of jewel-toned fruit and adding them to a less-sweet batter in which I increased the egg. Then I dusted the top with Demerara. The cake was just where I wanted it, with juicy, almost candied plums nestled into a hearty, rich-tasting crumb with a slightly more refined texture. It will certainly grace the family table this Rosh Hashana. And because of its salubrious whole-wheat flour quotient, I’ll be ushering in a happy and even healthier New Year.

If you like to grill foods at a picnic, here’s a great vegetarian option. Prepare these packets at home, then pack them, ready to grill, in your picnic basket. The recipe is inspired by one in Patricia Wells’s cookbook “Vegetable Harvest.” You can make this with cultivated or wild mushrooms.

1 pound large mushrooms (regular, portobello, wild, oyster or a combination), cleaned, trimmed and sliced 1/2 inch thick

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, mint, sage, rosemary or marjoram

2 to 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing foil

1. Cut four 12-by-12-inch squares of heavy aluminum foil, or eight squares of regular aluminum foil (stack two sheets each of the lighter foil to make four squares).

2. In a large bowl, combine the mushrooms, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper, and olive oil. Use a large spoon to blend the ingredients.

3. Brush the dull side of the aluminum squares with olive oil, and divide the mushrooms among the four squares. Fold the squares over and crimp the edges together to form well-sealed packets. Place on a hot grill, and grill 20 to 25 minutes. Remove one packet from the grill, and place on a plate. Carefully open it to check for doneness. The mushrooms should be tender and juicy. Either transfer to plates or bowls (there will be lots of juice), or cut the packets and eat the mushrooms directly from them. Have lots of crusty bread on hand to sop up the juices.

Yield: Serves four.

Advance preparation: You can prepare the foil packets up to a day ahead and keep in the refrigerator.

Nutritional information per serving: 89 calories; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 5 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 6 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 4 grams protein

Tonight, the best gift you get is the one you give yourself. And whoever is coming to dinner. This dish is based on a lesser known sauce from Provence called Sauce Mistral, named for the winds that huff and puff through southern France. The sauce is made from almonds, which hang from so many of the trees there. Stuff a butterflied trout with a creamy paste of crunchy ground almonds, garlic, and herbs. Tie the trout with three pretty bows, but despite your best efforts, the crème fraîche starts to ooze out and bubble and brown and the almonds toast and the garlic roasts, and the whole thing smells of Provence and a delicate decadence. Everyone gets his own extremely chic perfect fish package, and instead of shaking to figure out what's inside, there is suddenly a whole of sniffing. Untie the cords, and voila, Christmas morning. Three bows to unwrap in one night? Not too shabby.

Be sure not to forget the greatest lesson of Christmas: Give and ye shall receive. Bon app.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup ground blanched almonds
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh chervil leaves (see note #1)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1/4 cup crème fraîche
2 butterflied, cleaned 1-pound trouts
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper

PROCEDURE

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. In a food processor, combine the almonds, garlic, chervil, and thyme. Grind to a rubble, then add the olive oil and crème fraîche and pulse to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Drizzle the outside of the fish with extra virgin olive oil, and rub all over the fish. Season the inside and outside with salt and pepper.
4. Lie the fish skinside-down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Divide the almond mixture between the two fish, and smear all over the inside of the fish. Fold the fish back over itself, and secure with three strips of cooking twine.
5. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until the flesh of the fish is opaque and flaky, the skin slightly golden, and the stuffing bubbling and fragrant.

NOTES

1. Feel free to replace chervil with flat leaf parsley.

You may worry about the amount of dressing in this luscious salad, but you’ll find that it is largely absorbed by the potatoes. The salad resembles a classic creamy potato salad with lots of crunchy celery, but there’s only a smidgen of mayonnaise here. The technique of softening the onions with boiling water comes from the cookbook author Deborah Madison.

1 medium red onion, diced

1/3 cup vinegar (red or white wine, sherry or apple cider)

1 to 2 garlic cloves, to taste, minced or puréed

Salt to taste

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt

1 tablespoon Hellmann’s or Best Foods Mayonnaise (optional)

Freshly ground pepper

2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered if small, cut in large dice if large

4 stalks celery, diced or sliced

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Optional: 2 or 3 hard-cooked eggs, diced

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, garlic, salt, mustard, olive oil, yogurt and mayonnaise (if using). Place the onion in a bowl, and pour on boiling water to cover. Drain immediately, rinse with cold water and transfer to the bowl with the dressing.

2. Steam the potatoes above one inch of boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes until tender. Remove from the heat, and toss gently with the onion. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the remaining ingredients and toss together. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

Yield: Serves six to eight.

Advance preparation: This will keep for four to five days in the refrigerator.

Nutritional information per serving (six servings): 214 calories; 10 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 1 milligram cholesterol; 29 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 81 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 4 grams protein

Nutritional information per serving (eight servings): 160 calories; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 1 milligram cholesterol; 22 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 61 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 3 grams protein