Walnut

In this easy starter, a mix of tangy blue cheese, chopped toasted walnuts and peppery arugula makes a delicious topping for baguette toasts.

If you can't find haricots verts--thin French string beans--buy the slenderest green beans you can find. Pack the prepared potatoes and beans separately, then arrange them on a platter when you reach your destination.

This nucato is related to the delicious nougat noir ("black nougat") still made in the southern French town of Sisteron. But here, there is an additional pleasant surprise when you taste it: the perfumed bite of spices. This is a perfect treat for Christmastime.

"I had lunch at a historic spot in Berryville, Virginia, called the Battletown Inn," says Judy Owens of Round Hill Virginia. "For dessert, I ordered bourbon walnut pie. If chef Robin Smith would share her recipe, I know that baking the pie during the holidays would become a family tradition." The sweetness of the filling is offset nicely by the bourbon. Serve the dessert with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Versatile breads that are good served with cheese, spread with butter and jam at teatime, or paired with a main-course salad.

Among the pear varieties, we prefer the silky, juicy flesh and slightly winy flavor of Comice pears for eating, and they are exceptionally good in this crisp. (For poaching and in tarts, good Bosc pears have the right texture and body.)

Walnut Soup (Hup Tul Woo) is a favorite snack soup, often eaten in place of dessert. The Chinese believe that walnuts resemble the shape of the brain and, thus, are good for nourishing the brain. Any foods that resemble the shape of a body organ are said to be god for that organ. Walnuts are also associated with longevity, since walnut trees live for hundreds of years. Regardless, this is a delicious soup. The oven-roasting brings out the fragrance of the walnuts, and it is rich and creamy despite the fact that there is no dairy added. I think Walnut Soup is a wonder because it tastes so good while also being good for you. Be sure to use rice flour and not glutinous rice flour.

Tart cranberries provide delicious contrast to the rich nut filling.

Here's a nice salad for fall and winter; mustard and orange give the great-tasting dressing plenty of zip.

Offer these with cocktails before dinner, or sprinkle them over holiday salads.

The upside-down cake—so popular in the fifties and sixties—has been making a come-back lately. This version has a banana, walnut and maple topping, and tender cake.

This simple and elegant starter is excellent with Sauvignon Blanc.

Bisquick got its start in the early thirties when Carl Smith, a salesman for General Mills, took a late-night train ride. He went to the dining car in hopes of finding something to eat, and was pleasantly surprised to be served freshly made biscuits. When he asked about them, the chef confessed that he kept a pre-mixed batch of ingredients for the dough in the freezer for late orders. Smith reported back to General Mills, suggesting that they market such a mix, and they did. But it’s not just for biscuits; Bisquick can be used to make pancakes and waffles, and this luscious coffee cake, too.

"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." Boost the payoff with a scoop of ice cream.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 30 min