Soup/Stew

Miso soup — a fermented-soybean broth — is not difficult to make at home. Freeze the ginger and thaw it before squeezing; that way, extracting the juice will be easy. Chilled sake goes well with the meal.

Chervil's delicate anise flavor enhances the season's baby vegetables. If you don't have chervil, substitute fresh dill.

Chef Jody Adams of Rialto at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge is famous for this type of rustic dish. At the restaurant she serves the stew on mashed potatoes.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Here's a rustic dish that is typical of Naples.

During June through September, when the garden was most productive, Miss O'Keeffe would often walk with me to pick the vegetables she wanted for supper. She would consider what was ripe and what flavors would be pleasing,then supper would be served near six o'clock. Meals were generally prepared according to the following preferred schedule: breakfast at 7 a.m., the noon meal at 12 o'clock, and supper at 6 p.m. This schedule is one example of the patterns that suited the artist in her nineties.

This simple soup, known as zuppa Sarda, is eaten year-round all over Sardinia.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Makes use of the microwave oven.

Elderflowers, with their subtle, honeyed sweetness, are often paired with gooseberries in English cookery. In this particular recipe pink gooseberries are best; the green ones are too tart.

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.

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.

A rich-tasting low-fat chowder with lots of spicy curry flavor.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Straight from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This is one of mom's specialties for a summer lunch or dinner.