Crimini Mushroom

For ease of preparation, ask for the full round, not the short cut or partial leg, and have the butcher butterfly it for you.

Crab and mushrooms have always made good dining companions, but never more so than in this velvety soup. Serve it as the first course at a dinner party or as the centerpiece of a soup supper, with corn bread on the side.

Try a green salad with Champagne vinaigrette on the side, and some dinner rolls. Serve miniature fruit-filled pastries after.

Active time: 35 min Start to finish: 35 min This recipe makes good use of the tail-end portion of a tenderloin.

Use a cast-iron skillet or other heavy skillet to make this recipe. Serve the bubbling cheese right from the pan, and partner the whole meal with icy Margaritas.

Lane Crowther, Bon Appétit contributing editor, "Stuffing has always set the tone for our Thanksgiving dinners. We choose the stuffing—it might be Tex-Mex, or another regional American, or something else—then create the menu around it. A few years ago, the feast had an Italian accent, and a vegetable stuffing led the way."

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. This spicy pasta dish is a real treat for mushroom lovers. Use as many different varieties as you can find.

This dish combines aroma and flavor in a unique fashion: Bowls of steaming rosemary vapor accompany the luxurious main course. The piney fragrance of fresh rosemary adds another dimension to the taste experience.

Complement this earthy entrée with braised brussels sprouts and buttered orzo. Warm gingerbread squares make a great ending.

"My husband and I ate dinner at the Dilworthtown Inn, a colonial-style restaurant in West Chester, Pennsylvania," writes Judy Kamp of Oxford, Pennsylvania. "I'd love to know how to make the creamy mushroom soup we both had to start the meal."

One surprise to Europeans who settled the plains was the abundance of wild mushrooms, including morels, chanterelles, and other varieties familiar from home. Free for the picking, the mushrooms were hung on strings and dried, providing a winter's worth of eating. Wild rice (actually a grass seed) is a New World native that combines well with the earthy mushrooms the French cèpes. (The Italians call them porcini, and they are easier to find than cèpes, which is why we call for porcini in this recipe.)

This recipe yields enough to have leftovers the next day. Serve with glasses of beer or Zinfandel for a warming autumn supper.

"I love going to Peter Schott's here in Boise for special occasions," writes Tracie Merrell of Boise, Idaho. "The restaurant is elegant but relaxed, and the food is memorable, especially the mushroom soup with Brie croutons." Freezing the Brie firms it, so removing the rind and slicing the cheese are much easier.

Pasta with shellfish is an old Italian tradition. Have crusty bread on hand to serve.