Canned Tomato

With steamed asparagus and some rice or mashed potatoes, this easy dish is elegant enough for company.

Gremolata is a parsley and lemon peel mixture commonly used in Italy with osso buco.

A jicama, watercress and red onion salad and warm corn tortillas would be terrific with this meatless entrée. Scoop lemon sherbet into cantaloupe halves for dessert. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Serve this dish with cornbread and a mixed green salad for a hearty supper.

Almost all tomato-sauce recipes call for at least 30 minutes of cooking, but you can make this tomato sauce in less than 10 minutes by using a large skillet instead of the conventional saucepan. The tomatoes cook faster on the larger surface of the skillet and taste fresher than sauces subjected to 45 minutes of heat. Pasta is added to the sauce in the skillet to finish cooking both pasta and sauce together. This basic tomato sauce can easily be prepared while waiting for the pasta water to come to a boil. Ripe seasonal tomatoes, preferably plum or sauce tomatoes, which have a lower water content, should be used when available, but first-rate canned tomato pulp is a fine choice for the rest of the year. Those who wish to peel fresh tomatoes should, though it's not necessary.

A version of the Tuscan specialty, fagioli all'ucccelletto.

My mother had no interest in cooking, but did what she could to get a nutritious dinner on the table with the least possible effort. The concept of a "recipe" was virtually unknown to her. Most nights, dinner was composed of exactly one item from each of the four food groups, for example: a baked potato, boiled peas, broiled chicken, and ice cream. No two ingredients touched each other until they got to our plates. We always had plenty of shrimp in the house (my father was a seafood importer), so my mother took advantage of this food supply by keeping bowls of boiled shrimp with ketchup and horseradish in the refrigerator. Then, on special nights, my mother would give it all she had and make what we called a "dish." We celebrated her efforts at combining ingredients, but the results were never worth the wait.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Deli cucumber salad and one of the new microwavable soups, such as savory lentil or spicy rice and bean, make great side dishes. End with purchased fresh fruit salad.

Complete the menu with a salad of romaine, fresh dill and a lemon vinaigrette. St. George — a slightly spicy dry red wine from Greek vintner George Skouras — is nice with the fish; Pinot Noir would also work well.

Naomi Wagman Kirstein of Danvers, Massachusetts, writes: "I would love to have the recipe for the West Indian beef stew served at The Golden Lemon Inn & Villas on St. Kitts, in the West Indies." The green olives in this recipe cut the richness of the stew by adding a slightly pungent flavor.<

Okra replaces the usual eggplant in an innovative and appealing appetizer.

Mole, a classic Mexican chili sauce, gets streamlined here. Chipotle chilies (available canned at Latin American markets and many supermarkets) add heat, while unsweetened chocolate provides subtle sweetness. Serve the stew in shallow bowls with steamed rice. Add an arugula, orange, and red onion salad and a basket of warm corn tortillas. For dessert, offer cinnamon-spiked hot chocolate and wafer cookies.