Simmer

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

There will be enough of this delicious make-ahead soup for seconds or leftovers.

The following recipe calls for filé powder, a spice made from the dried, ground leaves of the sassafras tree. Although often added as a thickener to gumbos while they cook, filé powder can also serve purely as a seasoning. As in this recipe, it is then sprinkled over the gumbo at the penultimate moment.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

Pair this with frosty glasses of lager.

Pan-roasting the vegetables imparts an earthy sweetness to this dish.

A Dijon mustard vinaigrette brings all the flavors together. If you can't find basmati rice, white long-grain rice is fine.

Use this for the Springtime Sushi Nests or for any sushi recipe.

(Pasta con Ragù di Vitello, Salsicce e Porcini) Ragù is a beloved part of Tuscan cooking. Every person has his or her own recipe, but the basics are constant: It is a hearty sauce made with meat (beef, pork, veal, duck, even boar) and vegetables like carrots, tomatoes and onions, all cooked in wine and broth. And ragù is most often served over pasta. This recipe includes dried porcini mushrooms, which give the sauce a real taste of the Tuscan countryside.

Canned mangoes are excellent in this dessert if ripe fresh ones are unavailable. Use a drained (1-lb 14-oz) can of mango slices in syrup. If the canned fruits you buy are Alphonso mangoes (our favorite variety of mango), add an additional 1/2 cup cream.

From the Williamsburg Inn's Regency Room.

This gelato, named after Bernardo Buontalenti, a sixteenth-century Florentine who may have been one of the world's original ice-cream makers, is made with any number of flavorings. The "secret" ingredient is usually a liqueur (such as Di Saronno Amaretto). A delicious alternative would be a pinch of mixed spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

This simple but satisfying dish — full of slightly sweet parsnip and celery root chunks — can be made ahead and just reheated before serving.