Italian American

Lenticchie Brasate
This recipe is an accompaniment for Chicken Breast Valdostana with Braised Lentils.

Accompany this dish with a salad of baby lettuces and sliced sweet onion- such as Vidalia or Maui- and some seeded breadsticks. End with chocolate frozen yogurt drizzled with coffee liqueur or chocolate sauce.

The dinner menu at the Terrace Dining Room in Phoenix includes this elegant selection. Orechiette, which means "little ears," is a small, round pasta that resembles-little ears.

"My father was a grilling fanatic,: Sandra says. "I remember him standing over the barbecue in a terrible rainstorm one day when he just had to have grilled chicken. He named this marinade after the village in Italy where he grew up."

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

(San Francisco-Style Seafood Soup) Cioppino is San Francisco's answer to bouillabaisse and, like that famous Provencal seafood soup, is made with a variety of the freshest fish possible. In San Francisco the mixture included Dungeness crab, which adds a unique flavor, but any regional crab will do. If crab is not available, substitute another shellfish. No clams? Try mussels. The point is to treat the following recipe as a guide and use whatever looks best in the market the day you make the soup.

A savory onion-cheese spread turns ordinary packaged biscuit dough into inspired mini appetizer "pizzas."

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Homemade pizza is more accessible than you think, especially if you keep a supply of dough in the freezer, and a few topping ingredients on hand. If you make small pizzas ("pizzettas"), you can individualize the toppings, and satisfy the various tastes of everyone in you household without a whole lot of extra work.

From Daniel Boulud and Alex Lee, the former executive chef at Daniel in New York.

Karla Medina of League City, Texas, writes: "At a food festival in downtown Houston, I had a sampler plate from Carmelo's Italian Restaurant. The eggplant Parmesan and spicy meatballs were very good, but the polenta was out of this world. I'd love to know how they prepared it."

Active time: 1 1/2 hr Start to finish: 2 hr