[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at... More

Endive gratin is a traditional dish—it has the rich voluptuousness of a gratin and crisp, bitter verdure of the vegetable. Ham-wrapped endive halves are smothered in a simple béchamel and covered with Gruyère cheese, then baked until the endive is soft and mellow and the cheese is bubbly and gooey. Add a small green salad with a little lemon juice and fleur de sel and you're in business. More

I am not a baker. I almost always screw something up, leaving my kitchen disheveled and covered in a sticky coating of flour. But while these may not be the prettiest turnovers to ever emerge from an oven, even I have to admit that they were remarkably easy to construct. What else should expect from Real Simple magazine? Just purchase some premade frozen pie crusts, top with a filling, fold them over, and then pop these in the oven and in 25 minutes or so. That's dinner. More

Like a savory bread pudding, spinach and gruyère strata offers a variety of tantalizing flavors and textures and can be prepared well in advance. More

To me this sounds like the worst kind of dish: a mishmash of dinner, breakfast, and chaos, all on the same plate. Essentially it's a ham sandwich that's been cooked like French toast. And you're even supposed to eat it with strawberry jam! So why does it come out tasting balanced? I blame the mustard, which really should never be paired with powdered sugar, but somehow keeps everything in order. More