Beverages

Sautéed zucchini or spinach makes a delicious accompaniment. Serve with a dry red wine such as a Naoussa from Greece or a Zinfandel or Pinot Noir from California. Baklava from a local Middle Eastern market is the ideal after-dinner sweet.

An elegant soup that can be prepared a day ahead. Begin the occasion by passing smoked chicken canapés. To make them, spread mayonnaise over crustless sandwich bread, and top with thinly sliced smoked chicken. Cut the open-face sandwiches into triangles, and garnish each of them with a few onion sprouts.

This hearty winter entrée can be prepared several days ahead. Veal brisket is the boned veal breast. If you don't have a roasting pan large enough to hold both briskets, divide the ingredients in half and bake in two pans. If the veal is difficult to find, substitute one 5-pound flat-cut beef brisket and roast until tender, about 3 1/2 hours. Leftovers freeze well and make great sandwiches.

This recipe is just one of the countless ways to use preserved lemons.

This recipe originally accompanied Frozen White Chocolate and Hazelnut Dacquoise .

Don’t bother peeling the shrimp for an everyday meal — just team them with cole-slaw and toasted bread (and napkins); follow it all with sliced bananas and pecan cookies. When it’s time for a party, peel the shrimp, and place them on angel hair pasta tossed with a colorful selection of roasted bell peppers. Vanilla bread pudding with brandy sauce is a special finale.

Maple syrup and apple brandy lend a delicate flavor to the turkey and gravy. The New England Sausage, Apple and Dried Cranberry Stuffing is an especially nice accompaniment. Watch how to prepare and carve your bird with our streaming video demonstration.

When the use of chocolate became common in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, chocolaterías opened in Madrid, serving hot chocolate to weary voyagers and the homeless. In Spain, the warming elixir is distinguished by the addition of spice, but especially by its rich, frothy texture, achieved by heating and beating it several times. Traditionally, a wooden hand mill called a molinillo is used, but a whisk works as well.

(Salade Verte à la Vinaigrette) This is a basic recipe, one that should be part of every culinary repertoire. On the farm it is an everyday salad that changes according to the season, depending on what greens are fresh in the garden. In winter I am a slave to escarole, which I occasionally combine with Belgian endive. In spring and summer I mix greens, using green or red oak-leaf, mesclun (a fragrant mix of young greens), arugula, and fresh herbs.

The key to this recipe is cooking the bell peppers until they’re meltingly tender, at least 15 minutes.

Dark chocolate never goes out of fashion, but white chocolate was all the rage in the eighties. Foodies couldn't get enough, enjoying it in truffles, tarts and sumptuous ivory-colored mousses like this one.

A full-bodied Merlot would go well with this impressive Mediterranean-style dish. For an appetizer, offer melba toast spread with blue cheese; pass hot crusty bread with the shanks; and complete the supper with a simple green salad. Afterward, break out a lemon meringue pie from the bakery.

This recipe originally accompanied Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate-Raspberry Frosting.

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes A simple ragout of shellfish and sausage, so easy to prepare it's almost a heat-and-serve dish. Cook the shallots and garlic, then the sausage, add the wine and rosemary, then the mussels, which will release their juices into the pan, and finish with the parsley and bread crumbs — a rustic, spicy, brothy dish to be eaten with good crusty bread.