White Wine

Complete the menu with a tomato and red onion salad, sourdough bread, and poached pears (or canned) with raspberry sauce.

"My best cooking is done on Sundays during the fall and winter," writes Lisa Caiazzo of Franklin Square, New York, "when I become a football widow. The game doesn't appeal to me at all, so I happily escape to the kitchen while my husband, Angelo, roots for the Giants. Often I prepare a feast that includes meatballs and sauce, chicken cutlets, roasted peppers, hot bread, and crème brûlée. An afternoon of cooking can be very therapeutic after a busy week. And since Angelo is actually a bigger fan of my food than of football, I'm always shown plenty of appreciation."

Petto di Pollo alla Valdostana con Lenticchie Brasate I sometimes suggest some side dishes to go along with main courses and let you make up your mind which you prefer to serve. I love this combination so much, though, that I'm including the side dish as part of the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Tom and Pam Kreider of Nashport, Ohio, write: "Our trip to the island of Mykonos inspired the creation of this recipe for fillet of sole. May these flavors transport you to the sunny isles of the Aegean." Don't be tempted to use fresh bread crumbs for this recipe — it won't be as good.

Fideuà is the Catalan name for a favorite baked noodle dish.

To complement this Provençal-style entrée, sprinkle torn radicchio with oil, vinegar and Niçoise olives, and mix chopped chives and grated Parmesan into pasta. Finish with a purchased lemon tart. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Although bisques tend to be thick and creamy, the following intensely flavorful version is light, with very little cream added.

Perfect before grilled fish or roast chicken.

This recipe was created to accompany Crown Roast of Lamb .

There's a lot of liquid here, so be sure to use a very large pot to prepare the stew.

Western ingredients are particularly well suited to the Thanksgiving feast, as evidenced by this robust, satisfying gravy. It comes from Montana-based Greg Patent, the author of New Cooking from the Old West (Ten Speed Press, 1996), and it has an appealing home-on-the-range quality, thanks to plenty of fresh sage and the smoky taste of bacon. It's rich, delicious and perfect for smothering turkey and potatoes. Follow these directions to make a foolproof gravy no matter what recipe you use for roasting the turkey. Since the broth and giblets can be prepared one day ahead, the last-minute steps are kept to a minimum.

Buttered potatoes accompany this simple, sophisticated dish at Gugelhof restaurant.

(Cacciucco) This seafood soup, called cacciucco (meaning "mixture"), is a specialty of Livorno, a fishing port that is Tuscany's second-largest city. It has been made for hundreds of years, and variations of it appear all along the Tuscan coast. Traditionally, at least five types of fish and shellfish are included (one for each "c" in the name). If you like, do as the Italians do, and place a slice of toasted bread in each bowl before ladling the soup over.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Pappardelle Bolognese .