European

This sauce goes with almost any topping. Three to try: slices of fresh mozzarella, fresh basil leaves, and roasted eggplant. This recipe originally accompanied the <epi:recipelink id="352109">Overnight Pizza Dough recipe</epi:recipelink>

Spread the pesto over the dough , then add toppings. Roasted asparagus, well-drained cooked spinach, and crumbled feta would be delicious.

An Italian tomato-based sauce for steak, pizzaiola gets amped up with fennel seeds and crushed red pepper. Serve this dish over soft polenta.

Sweet sausage will workin this springtime risotto, too; the final result just won't taste spicy.

The pasta cooking liquid helps turn the cheese, cream, and sautéed vegetables into an incredible sauce.

You will not regret investing in a set of coeur à la crème dishes, as this is the most captivating of summer desserts, and can be varied all season according to what fruits are available.

Raynaudes is not far from the garlic capital of the southwest, at Lautrec, south of Albi. Lautrec garlic is a special variety, protected by an appellation d'origine contrôlée, with pink skin. It keeps well and the cloves are a good even size.

It is said that France is divided into three regions of gastronomy determined by the fat it uses for cooking. In the north, this is butter. In the southeast, olive oil. In the southwest, it is unquestionably duck fat.

If you're pressed for time, you can sub 1 1/2 cups canned beans for the dried. There's no need to precook the canned beans—just drain and rinse them before adding them to the onions.

Baguette-like loaves make this Irish classic easy to slice, providing perfectly sized portions.

Bell peppers and cumin add sweetness and spice to this tangy tomato soup, but it's the pimentón that really pulls all the flavors together.

It's March, which feels like the longest month, and for many of us, it's still cold and dreary outside. Time to start fantasizing about sitting at a café table somewhere hot and dazzlingly sunnyéa Greek island would do nicely. These hearty sandwiches will take you there.

A Provençal barigoule is almost always applied to artichokes, but why limit yourself? Nutty-sweet Brussels sprouts take beautifully to the wine-lemon broth.

Somewhere between custard and cake lies the clafoutis, a simple French country dessert traditionally made with cherries. In this dark chocolate and raspberry version, your blender does most of the work.

Here, chicken thighs and drumsticks roast on one side of a sheet pan while, on the other, a trio of tomatoes (plum, grape, and sun-dried) intensifies in flavor along with crusty potato and briny olives.

Here we combine some favorite flavors in an eclectic pasta dish. We don't think you'll mind the loose definition of meatball: Free-form versions are terrifically satisfying and don't require any shaping.

Whenever the weather begins to get cold, I begin to fantasize about that perfect bowl of French onion soup. The top is golden and crisp, the cheese has blistered and fallen and is completely melted, and gooey bits are stuck to the outer sides of the bowl. When I cut through the cheese, the bread is slightly crisp, but mushy at the same time. I fill my spoon with the rich, full broth crammed with soft, sweet, smoky onions. Here's my fantasy in a bowl.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen. This recipe for quickly cooked cabbage has converted many an ardent cabbage hater!

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen. Although this dish is eaten less frequently nowadays in Ireland, for Irish expatriots it conjures up powerful nostalgic images of a rural Irish past. Originally it was a traditional Easter Sunday dinner. The beef, killed before the winter, would have been salted and could now be eaten after the long Lenten fast, with fresh green cabbage and floury potatoes. Our local butcher corns beef in the slow, old-fashioned way which, alas, is nowadays more the exception than the norm.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen. One of the best-loved ways of cooking potatoes was (and is) to mash them with boiling milk, add chopped scallions or chives and serve this creamy, green-flecked mixture with a blob of yellow butter melting in the center. Leeks, nettles, peas and brown crispy onions are all delicious additions.