Rice & Grains

If you can get fresh shelled peas, cook them in a pan of boiling water until they are just tender, 3 to 5 minutes, then drain and toss them with the chives, zest, and pepper. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 40 min

The chef uses Georgia quail in this dish; chicken works well and is easier to buy.

Also known as jook, congee turns up in Chinese households morning, noon, and night. This thick rendition is made heartier with the addition of chicken.

In this classic French dish, a veal roast is sliced and layered with a combination of soubise (onion) and duxelles (mushroom) stuffings, then put back together in the shape of the roast. Traditionally, it's covered with more stuffing and heavily coated with a Mornay sauce (which glazes the roast as it's heated in the oven). In our updated version, we keep the soubise and duxelles separate and arrange them side by side — black contrasting with white — on each veal slice, so the stuffings are visible. We use only a very thin coating of Mornay to glaze the dish, and serve the rest on the side.

We love this recipe as much for the soy-glazed bonito flakes, with their maddeningly good smoky-savory-sweet flavor, as for making such great use of leftovers.

These cookies are also good on their own.

Add corn biscuits (you can find them in the supermarket refrigerator case) and a romaine, arugula, and radicchio salad with goat cheese. Coffee ice cream drizzled with Kahlúa is a nice dessert.

Round out this menu with a salad of snow peas, cherry tomatoes, and bean sprouts dressed with a rice-wine vinaigrette. For dessert, sliced kiwis splashed with rum would be good. Look for the curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce, and jasmine rice in the Asian foods section of your supermarket.

This fresh, uncooked version of a classic pasta sauce is also delicious served over rice. The rich nutty flavor of brown rice stands up well to the piquant flavors of the sauce. If you prefer a cooked sauce, you can saute the garlic and tomatoes in the olive oil, then add the remaining ingredients except the rice and heat through.

This would serve four as a vegetarian entrée.

In this typical Northern Italian entrée, polenta is topped with a rich and meaty ragù. Begin preparing the dish one day before you plan to serve it.

Smoky vegetables, corn and brown rice are dressed with citrus vinaigrette.

This traditional Indian dish is usually served with basmati rice or Indian bread.

"My grandmother was a reporter in New York before she got married and moved to Montana to start a new life on a ranch," writes Joyce Litz of Albuquerque, New Mexico. "At the time she didn't know how to cook, and learning wasn't easy — the place didn't even have running water. Still, she appreciated good food, so she persevered and became a great cook. Later my grandmother taught me ranch-style cooking, a lot of which involved getting simple but flavorful, hearty meals ready in a hurry." Serve with diced cucumber mixed into yogurt.

These delicious waffles will propel you guilt-free through the morning.

"I'm from India," writes Hema Kundargi of Cupertino, California, "and I enjoy the foods of my homeland. My children are the opposite — they like 'American' food. But I haven't given up trying to make Indian meals that the whole family will like. This recipe pleases everyone."