Bean and Legume

Your butcher can butterfly the lamb for you. What to drink: Bordeaux-blend reds, such as Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon, are the perfect match.

The salmon is equally good served hot or cold. What to drink: Chardonnay or white Burgundy, such as Saint-Véran.

This recipe is a variation on mushy peas, a beloved British street food. Ours have a much brighter color and flavor, making them sophisticated enough for entertaining.

Healthy bonus: Vitamin A from the pumpkin, fiber from the peas

The unofficial national dish of Spain, paella makes a fantastic main course for entertaining. Once you've prepped the components a couple of hours ahead, the finished product comes together in about 30 minutes. Just add a green salad dressed with Sherry vinaigrette. What to drink: Chilled Spanish rosé (called rosado); Rick Rodgers likes Las Rocas de San Alejandro Rosado.

These good-for-you sandwiches are low in fat and meatless.

Goes great with: Couscous flavored with chopped mint, toasted slivered almonds, and grated lemon peel. What to drink: Australian Shiraz or red Faugères from the Languedoc in France.

The cooking time of lentils varies — the fresher they are, the faster they will cook.

If you substitute regular bread crumbs for the panko, the coating will be heavier and the texture denser. In this recipe, the peas are soaked but not precooked before grinding, much like in a falafel.

We made our potpie in an oval baking dish, but you could also use a square or rectangular one.

It's easy to stereotype salad as summertime fare, but this dish proves otherwise. Shredded beef and warm potatoes pair up with a lively mustard vinaigrette to create this satisfying meal.

Truite aux Haricots Verts et Amandes Fresh sweet trout with lemony brown butter and crunchy almonds has become one of my favorite Bouchon dishes. We cook and serve trout with the skin and head on, though the head can be removed after cooking. When I see trout on menus, it brings to mind mountain rivers and fresh air; indeed, in inland France trout was traditionally served only in bistros that had access to freshwater fish, in rivers coming down off the Alps. Most of the trout you find, and the trout we use, is farm raised.