Carrot

This West Hollywood Rat Pack hangout still attracts big-name diners like Sheryl Crow and Meg Ryan. The Italian bistro offers a variety of delectable dishes, including Ricotta Fritters With Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce and Grilled Artichokes. The popular entrée below boasts satiating lean protein and a helping of vitamin-rich carrots.

Healthy bonus: Fiber and protein from lentils; vitamin A from carrots

This light and refreshing slaw is best eaten the day it's made, chilled or at room temperature.

In Malaysian cuisine, at least one pickled dish (acar) is offered with every meal — it provides a bold flavor contrast to the other dishes. Our recipe isn't traditional, but it serves the same purpose.

An alternative to traditional gefilte fish, this cold, oven-steamed halibut makes an elegant fish course. Conveniently, it should be prepared one day ahead.

This creamy, low-fat soup is packed with vitamins A and C.

If you're making this entire menu in a single oven, roast the vegetables and bake the souffléed gnocchi while the lamb stands (increase the oven temperature as soon as the lamb comes out).

The Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions feature dishes with sweet-and-sour combinations such as honey and lemon. Serve this chicken with potatoes or matzo farfel, and you've got a great meal.

Everything is approximate with brisket and tzimmes, since some people can't stand prunes and others want nothing but. The amounts listed below are estimates; feel free to change them. Though Karen Stabiner calls for first-cut brisket, which is relatively lean, we prefer the more evenly marbled second cut for moister, more succulent meat.

Stout and brown sugar give these tender ribs a hint of sweetness.

The chicken and pickled vegetables are meant to be wrapped up in lettuce leaves and eaten with your hands.

This side would be delicious with roasted chicken or broiled halibut.

This is a basic court-bouillon that can be used to poach any kind of shellfish and most firm meaty fish.

The cooking time of lentils varies — the fresher they are, the faster they will cook.

We made our potpie in an oval baking dish, but you could also use a square or rectangular one.

Having broth as a tapa is an old custom that's becoming popular again in both Spain and the U.S. Food editor Ruth Cousineau set out to make just the broth, but the resulting short rib meat was so delicious (even after cooking in broth all that time) that she didn't want to waste it, so she came up with a use for it in a short rib terrine. This recipe is traditionally made with oxtails, but we substituted short ribs and beef shanks because they're easier to get in most supermarkets. If you'd like to try it with oxtails instead of ribs and shanks, use 6 pounds of oxtails (preferably from grass-fed beef, such as Niman Ranch).