Red Onion

"I come from a big family, so I learned how to cook to help my mother feed all of those hungry mouths," says Molly Shannon Daum, Evergreen Park, Illinois. "Dad loved whatever I made, and he would always tell me that I should have my own restaurant named Molly's Marvelous Makings. But despite Dad's suggestion, I decided to study nursing. Nowadays I usually don't get home until seven o'clock at night, which means that dinner has to be quick. Sometimes my husband, Tom, helps out in the kitchen, but mostly it's up to me to get something delicious on the table fast. Since the opportunity to prepare challenging meals doesn't come up often, I save the complex cooking for the times when we entertain. That’s when I get to use the recipes that might have appeared on my menu if I'd taken Dad's advice." Molly also uses the dressing on salads.

You can cook the onions up to one day ahead. Just before serving time, rewarm them in the oven while the roast rests. This recipe is an accompaniment for Black Pepper-Crusted Standing Rib Roast au Jus.

"For my son's birthday, I'd like to make a pasta, sausage, and lentil dish that we both ate during an Italian vacation," writes Miriam Scott of New York, New York. "We stayed at Locanda l'Elisa, located just south of Lucca in Tuscany. The hotel's greenhouse-like restaurant, the Gazebo, served the pasta dish that was so wonderful. Could you possibly track down the recipe? " Adding some of the pasta's cooking water to this dish gives it a creamy quality.

Transporting this dish is easy: Stack the fillet slices together and wrap them in plastic wrap; pack the arugula, onions, beans, and dressing in separate containers. Then toss everything together just before serving.

The abundant use of leafy greens is one of the hallmarks of the food of the African continent in general. Here, the familiar collard green, which has become emblematic of African-American cooking, is given an Ethiopian twist in a dish that can be served either warm or at room temperature.

A lightly dressed salad of baby greens would complement this entrée nicely; serve rum-drizzled grilled pound cake slices afterward.

Preparing the zucchini for this dish won't heat up your kitchen — simply salting thin slices is enough to tenderize them. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 30 min

A classic rendition of the summer favorite. For something a little different, Cash sometimes adds two-thirds cup chopped fresh cilantro and two teaspoons curry powder.

Serve the kebabs with some rice to round out the meal.

(Panzanella) In Tuscany, leftover bread is put to many uses: It stars in all kinds of recipes, from appetizers like crostini and fettunta (the Tuscan term for bruschetta) to soups like ribollita and pappa al pomodoro. Stale bread even appears in salads; this one is called panzanella, which comes from the word pantanella, meaning "little swamp." Although the name is unfortunate, it is appropriate: The chunks of bread are first soaked in water, then mixed with the rest of the salad, where they sop up the zesty vinaigrette. There are several versions of panzanella, but no matter how the salad is made, the bread should be a few days old and coarse in texture. Sometimes wheat bread is used, but the salad is better with white.