Rice & Grains

Velvety risotto shows off the flavors and textures of young spring produce.

Nasi Kerabu
Make sure to buy the larger dried shrimp and select those that are bright pink or pink-orange (they brown and harden with age). Lesser grades of dried shrimp tend to be unpleasantly pungent. It's also important to use a fine-quality rice — what you can buy at most supermarkets will yield mediocre results.

Traditional Indian recipes for basmati rice call for soaking the rice, but we find that it isn't necessary in this case.

Make the polenta a couple of days ahead, then assemble each serving an hour or so before guests arrive.

This recipe serves 4 as a main course after you set aside 3 cups to make the mushroom and mozzarella arancini or the mushroom risotto cakes. Otherwise, it serves 6.

Healthy bonus Vitamin C from the bell peppers, B6, and potassium from the tomatoes

Goes great with: Salad of butter lettuce, radicchio, roasted pears, and toasted walnuts. What to drink: Red Burgundy or Pinot Gris.

Broccolini is a hybrid of broccoli and Chinese kale. You'll need to cook and cool the rice before you begin.

Harold J. Bigley of New York, New York, writes: "A few months ago I went to a party in The Hamptons catered by Loaves & Fishes in Sagaponack. The veal chops with polenta were outstanding. Could you get the recipe?" Ask your butcher to french (trim the fat from) the bone end of the veal rib chops.

Editor's note: This recipe is excerpted from Eric Ripert and Michael Ruhlman's book the A Return To Cooking. To read more about Ripert, click here. Here salmon is poached simply in salt water and served very rare with mushrooms and a mushroom broth, along with creamy polenta. The polenta adds a starch that the salmon needs, but it is also delicate and won't overwhelm the flavors of the fish. Mushrooms and polenta are a great classical pair, and a sturdy, satisfying match for the meaty salmon.