American

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 3 hr.

The Shakers, who once had a number of active communities in New England, were known for their creative use of fresh herbs in cooking and baking. This savory yeast bread is a typical example. It is delicious freshly baked or toasted the following day.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

If you have a set of clay tiles or a baking stone, place it on the oven rack while preheating the oven. It will absorb the heat, and putting a pizza pan or baking sheet directly on top will ensure a crisp crust.

All Southern cooks have their own ways of making gumbo. Our recipe contains neither okra nor filé powder, producing a thinner, lighter gumbo.

Mary Risley, director of Tante Marie's cooking school, says, "I dreamed up this recipe years ago when I was trying to cook Thanksgiving dinner on a four-burner stove with only one oven. And I've found that this is really the only vegetable needed to go with the turkey and mashed potatoes. It has the creamed onions everyone wants, it has the corn the Pilgrims must have eaten, and it has the fresh vegetables my Northern California friends and family have come to expect."

Cumin flavors a variety of foods, including breads, in southwestern cooking. Make the dough for these rolls one or two days ahead, and let it rise in the refrigerator.

The poblano chilies can be prepared one day ahead, and the vegetables can be chopped and sliced one day ahead and then refrigerated separately in resealable plastic bags. Then the whole dish just requires a few minutes of cooking time before serving.

A rainbow of four purchased sorbets plus vanilla ice cream make this beauty one of the easiest desserts ever. Prepare the stunning terrine up to four days ahead.

Turnips stand in for the usual potatoes, giving this gratin a rich, hearty taste.

Maple syrup in the corn bread adds a touch of New England to this traditional stuffing. The leftover bread is also nice with scrambled eggs or omelets.

If you can't find one type of the greens for this recipe, you can either increase the other two kinds proportionally or substitute kale and/or chard.