Gorgonzola

Elisa Mazzaferro-Rosenberg of Fort Collins, Colorado, writes: "I love to entertain, but between coming home late — I just completed my Ph.D. in small animal clinical sciences — and feeding my husband, Adam, and myself plus our little family of five cats and two dogs, I haven't had the time to have friends over much."

Serve this delicate salad as a first course or alongside grilled chicken. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

"I had a delightful dinner at Andiamo! Ristorante while on vacation in San Diego," writes Laverne Smith of Seattle, Washington. "Could you get their recipe for fettuccine carbonara? It was the best pasta I've ever had." Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the fettuccine will be hot when the sauce is finished; the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs that are tossed with it.

A true demi-glace — the luscious sauce made by reducing homemade stock and red wine to a rich concentration — needs to simmer for several hours, making it the perfect activity for a lazy winter Sunday.

Pour a chilled dry Gewürztraminer to accompany the salad and offer crusty bread throughout dinner.

Allen Susser is the man behind Chef Allen's, a favorite special-occasion restaurant near Miami. (He is also a cookbook author, has his own line of sauces, puts out a newsletter and has a Web site—www.chefallen.com.) Calling his food New World Cuisine, Susser uses an international repertoire of cooking techniques to prepare dishes with the best local ingredients. His focus on simple but powerful flavors shows in this dish.

Toss Italian greens like arugula and radicchio with a vinaigrette dressing and toasted walnuts for a fresh starter, and offer crunchy seeded breadsticks alongside this unusual risotto. Finish up with chocolate biscotti and espresso.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

These little toasts are nice before dinner or alongside a green salad.

We prefer Gorgonzola, Italy's star blue cheese, for this recipe, but if Iowa's Maytag blue — or another import — is easier to find in your area, then use it instead.