Roast

With months to go before the summer tomato season, we've found that slow-roasting brings out the flavor of winter plum tomatoes.

More flavor and less fat than deep-fried fish.

This recipe for chiles en macedonia combines ingredients from three states—Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacan. It came from the late Juan Diego Michel, who taught in Billy Cross's schools in Napa Valley and PuertoVallarta. The dish was a favorite of the Michel family in Jalisco, where, in his younger days, Juan Diego had his own restaurant and used the recipes from 200 years ago that had been passed down to him. To Cross, he was a Mexican-cooking mentor.

Set bowls of mixed nuts around the backyard, and serve the salad with glasses of chilled Beaujolais wine.

Escalivada Served hot, at room temperature, or chilled, this versatile vegetable mélange shows up frequently on Catalan menus. We love to use Unió, a fragrant, peppery oil made from the region's arbequina olives, both for cooking this dish and for drizzling over it.

Raita is a fresh yogurt sauce that typically accompanies curries and other Indian dishes. This raita also acts as a marinade.

Sauté any remaining greens from the beets to serve on the side with the lentils with port-glazed shallots . A Moulin-à-Vent is the wine of choice; purchased cheesecake topped with cherries marinated in brandy and sugar is a scrumptious finale.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 hr

David Leite's neighbor, Danny Pring, insists that the goose be served with red currant jelly.

The deep garnet glaze, made with pomegranate molasses, adds a richly piquant, sweet-tart depth of flavor to the turkey.