Weeknight Meals

This dish comes together quickly, making it ideal for a weeknight dinner. Just add some steamed rice or sauté baby potatoes and a tossed green salad

A hearty soup that's very low in fat.

"Dinner at the Montauk Seafood Grill was an ideal way to cap off a day of skiing in Vail," Julie Harris of Redwood City, California. "The salmon covered with an unusual breadcrumb coating is something I would like to make for a dinner party."

This recipe is just one of the countless ways to use preserved lemons.

This dish is delicious for brunch or dinner. The creamed onions would be particularly good with it, as would some fresh biscuits.

You can use purchased sauce here, your own homemade or the versatile This is terrific over pasta.

The verde on the succulent swordfish comes from the cilantro and chili marinade and a silky avocado mayonnaise. Start out with salsa and tortilla chips, and serve Mexican beer throughout the meal.

Don’t bother peeling the shrimp for an everyday meal — just team them with cole-slaw and toasted bread (and napkins); follow it all with sliced bananas and pecan cookies. When it’s time for a party, peel the shrimp, and place them on angel hair pasta tossed with a colorful selection of roasted bell peppers. Vanilla bread pudding with brandy sauce is a special finale.

Mashed potatoes and Green Beans with Warm Bacon Dressing (see recipe) are great side dishes. Follow with apple pie à la mode.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

(Poulet aux Echalotes de Mme. Lascourrèges) This is an interpretation of a recipe given to me by Denise Lascourrèges, whom our son christened "Madame Châtaigne." It was she who revealed to us the marvelous Gascon woods, which were so full of chestnuts we had to dodge those falling from the trees. Mme. Lascourrèges raises her own chickens and ducks, and the appear frequently on her table. At her house I found ways of preparing chicken that departed from the norm. This recipe, which relies on the sweet heat of shallots and the bite of vinegar, intrigued me most of all, and I've made it often since I returned from her farm. I use the oven most often, though occasionally I cook it on the grill, which is the way Mme. Lascourrèges usually makes it. In general, French farm cooks use a lot of shallots, which here turn dark and caramelized — some turn almost black — but they don’t get bitter. Instead, their flavor intensifies. The vinegar adds a pleasant tartness; the oil smooths all. At the last minute I like to add parsley, which scents the whole dish with its slight anise flavor. Consider it an option — it is my addition to Mme. Lascourrèges’s recipe. Try this with a lightly chilled dry red Bordeaux, or a Chinon. Watch how to cut a whole chicken into parts to use in this recipe.

The key to this recipe is cooking the bell peppers until they’re meltingly tender, at least 15 minutes.

This chilled noodle salad from Zygot Bookworks & Cafe is loaded with crisp vegetables.

(Beef Goulash Soup)

Fennel seeds add a flavorful new twist to this vegetarian main course.

If using young, small mustard greens, simply stir-fry as directed, omitting the water and additional cooking time.