Weeknight Meals

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 40 min

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Supermarkets, as well as butcher shops, sell a variety of chicken sausage — just use your favorite.

Khoresht Gheimeh This Persian stew recipe is adapted from the one that chef Homa Khakpour serves at Shiraz Kabab Cafe and Food Market. It's a terrific main course, which she pairs with chelo (steamed rice with melted butter). Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 hr

If you're planning to use the leftovers to make the fried rice with pork and kale , reserve 3/4 cup of this sautéed kale.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 hr

It wouldn't be Christmas without some red and green on the table.

This dish is best eaten right away. You can make all the parts — except for the pasta — way ahead of time and just throw it together at the last minute. (The slow-roasted tomatoes are also great in other roles — as part of an antipasto in the summertime, as an omelet filling, or as a topping on grilled bread.)

For an elegant dinner, just add a salad of Bibb lettuce and Belgian endive with walnut-oil vinaigrette, and pass a basket of warm French bread. A purchased apple tart makes a lovely finale.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The aioli is quickly made by mixing garlic and tarragon into purchased mayonnaise.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. The pickles add crunch and tangy flavor to an old-time favorite.

Larry Patten of Fresno, California is always looking for new ways to prepare vegetables, so he was happy to be served some wonderful carrots at a wedding in Bellingham, Washington. The food at the event was handled by Elegant Affairs Catering.

Serve with: Warmed tortillas and steamed, buttered summer squash. Dessert: Key lime pie from the bakery.