Oven Bake

The freshest greens and a blend of sweet and savory ingredients are the secrets to the appealing first course for this Italian dinner.

This is similar to the classic veal osso buco. Capocollo or pancetta (available at Italian delis) adds a nice smokiness. Serve this over noodles, mashed potatoes, or polenta. Market tip: Small lamb shanks won't do — they're mainly bone — so get the largest, meatiest ones you can find (about 1 to 1 1/4 pounds each).

This is a very quick recipe to make; just remember to start marinating the salmon the day ahead. You can easily half or double the amounts.

To round out the menu, offer a tossed green salad and uncork a Chianti to go with this delicious pasta dish. Sharpen your chopping and mincing skills with our technique video.

Braised pork shoulder, spicy Italian sausage, and pancetta enrich the tomato sauce. Dried crushed red pepper kicks up the heat.

Transform flounder fillets into an elegant dinner with this classic French technique.

One of the great blue cheeses of the world, real English Stilton transforms potatoes au gratin into something extraordinary.

Roast some cherry tomatoes and eggplant cubes alongside the lamb, and perk up instant couscous with fresh herbs for an easy addition. To complete the dinner, top poached or canned apricot halves with vanilla yogurt and chopped pistachios.

Can be prepared in 45 minues or less.

A rich and elegant special-occasion dish.

Haricots verts (small, thin French green beans) would also be nice as a side dish, but regular green beans would be fine, too.

Chilies and corn—staples of the southwestern diet—are the hallmarks of this stuffing. Its intense corn flavor comes from a mixture of corn bread, corn chips, corn kernels and cream-style corn. It gets its zip from poblano and jalapeño chilies.

A nice stuffing for poultry or an excellent accompaniment to pork tenderloin or salmon.

Loaded with vegetables and topped with Parmesan cheese, this will satisfy the biggest hunger on the coldest winter night.