Weeknight Meals

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Make a salad of rice tossed with diced jicama, red bell pepper, avocado and a vinaigrette dressing, and pass bowls of sour cream and shredded lettuce to accompany these Southwest-style meatless bean burgers. A lemon tart is a perfect finale.

Although this particularly suits Chicken Paprikás , it is also a fine side dish for ham, as well as for roast beef or pork.

Either potato salad or bulgur salad would be lovely with these summer kebabs.

These homemade sushi rolls are filled with avocado and crab.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Active time: 5 min Start to finish: 10 min

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Begin the meal with chilled canned vichyssoise sprinkled with chopped fresh chives. A bowl of marinated green and black olives goes well with the salad, and a compote of the season's best fruits — berries, melon and peaches — is a nice finish.

Posole is a thick, hearty stew typically containing corn and pork that originated in Jalisco, Mexico. Since I wanted to make this recipe vegetarian anyway, I decided to take it in an entirely new direction. The dried cherries may seem a little odd at first, but they lend a pleasant sweet-tartness to the dish while the pecans take it a bit deeper into the South. In the United States, we call the dried posole "hominy."

A stunning vegetarian platter.

For this warm-weather dish, a salsa cruda à la Grec — or uncooked Greek-style sauce — is combined with hot pasta and served at once. Be sure to use the ripest, juiciest tomatoes you can find, preferably from a farmers' market or your own backyard.

The butter is also delicious over scallops. Serve the dish with steamed rice.