Weeknight Meals

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe is a lower-fat version of a dish Richard remembers from the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

For variety, try adding black olives or roasted red peppers to this dish.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 50 min Pasta wasn't always the carbohydrate vehicle of choice — in the '40s, lots of saucy things were spooned onto toast. These mushrooms appeared in one of our stories about Katish — the Russian cook immortalized by Gourmet's Wanda E. Ivanoff — who liked their versatility as a side dish or main course, and who often made a big batch to keep on hand for impromptu snacks.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Remove the kernels from the cobs by holding each ear of corn upright on a flat surface and running a chef's knife along the cob and cutting downward, as close to the cob as possible.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Soupe au Pistou During Marion Cunningham’s last visit with Richard Olney, he made a version of this recipe, which comes from Simple French Food. As he made it, he told her that he thought the trick to cooking is tasting — in the case of the soup that day, adding the right amount of salt and pepper, then cheese, then a little olive oil, and finally some macaroni. After making the soup in our own kitchens, following the recipe from the book (it's highly adaptable to seasonal produce or the contents of your larder), we can understand why this recipe is so loved among Olney’s fans.

These lamb chops—an easier version of recipes you may have made before—go nicely with sugar snap peas with ginger and garlic and couscous with apricots .