Zucchini

Stew made with lamb may be known as the national dish, but beef is actually the most popular meat today. It turns up everywhere, including Tinakilly House in Rathnew, Ireland, where they offer this lovely dish. It's served with Champ (Green Onion Mashed Potatoes).

Loaded with vegetables and topped with Parmesan cheese, this will satisfy the biggest hunger on the coldest winter night.

For extra eye appeal, use tricolor pasta in this fresh-from-the-garden salad.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This dense orange cake, drizzled with orange glaze, is always a favorite at the annual P-Patch harvest banquet.

The peach and mustard glaze gives this dish a sweet-tart flavor.

Usher in the zucchini season with these neat little vessels. They're tender and moist with a pungent, crunchy top. You might also attract a few young children to zucchini in the process. Let them sprinkle on the cheese and this may actually interest them in eating the final result.

The use of raisins and pine nuts in lightly sweet-and-sour sauces probably came to Sicily from Turkey; these ingredients also turn up in the cooking of Venice, long a commercial gateway to Turkey and the East, but less commonly in the anchovy-and-tomato sauces that are so fundamental to the Sicilian kitchen. Note that the zucchini in this dish is cooked rather soft, in the traditional Italian manner; if you want a more contemporary crisp product, add the zucchini toward the end for a quick cooking in the thickened sauce.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. This sandwich goes well with macaroni salad and sweet-potato chips. Scoop strawberry ice cream into waffle cones afterward.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.