Simmer

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 45 min

Celebrate the last days of the tomato crop with this recipe. A hearty vegetarian main course, it needs only a salad and a loaf of Italian bread to complete the menu. End with fresh figs (dried are okay, too) steeped in Pernod and spooned over vanilla ice cream.

Serve these beans with bread to sop up the juices.

To start, offer a seafood appetizer, such as chilled cocktail shrimp with herbed mayonnaise. What to drink: Pour Champagne or sparkling wine throughout the meal.

"I've always loved to cook," writes Mary Gareffa of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, "and though at eighty-nine I'm slowing down, I still love it. My grandfather and my father were both cooks in a monastery in Reggio Calabria, Italy, before they moved to this country, and luckily for me, my father was my cooking teacher. He showed me how to make the tomato-and-sausage sauce for the pasta. When my son was young, he used to tease me for standing over the pot of sauce, stirring and simmering it slowly, but that's the way my father showed me. A sauce is like a baby; you have to be gentle with it. And I know I must be doing something right, because my grandson, Jason, called me just last week to get the recipe." Tender meatballs — bound with bread softened in milk — in a good old-fashioned Tomato-Sausage sauce.

Three kinds of ice cream (all chocolate), chocolate sauce, and a chocolate cookie crust make this a chocoholic’s dream come true.

(Tony Tan's Laksa Lemak)

This is my favorite way to cook winter squash. You peel, and slice it, then cook it in a skillet with cider and winter herbs. When most of the liquid boils away, the cider forms a tart-sweet glaze around the now-tender squash. Delicata is a wonderfully firm-textured squash that's not too sweet and almost like a potato. Other varieties like acorn, turban, or kabocha will make good substitutes, but they may not hold their shape quite as well through the braising.

"I'm only satisfied if my food looks as good as it tastes," writes Mikal Altomare of Albuquerque, New Mexico. "So when I set out to make something new, I combined carrots with cilantro, curry and apricot preserves for a side dish that is fresh, colorful, sweet and spicy."

Tostadas caseras — corn tortillas that have been seasoned and fried — can be found with the tortillas in most supermarkets. The soup can be made one day before serving.

"Last year I spent the holidays in Arizona with my aunt and uncle, who took me to a restaurant in Scottsdale called CREW," writes Lisa C. Holley of Washington, D.C. "I loved the goat cheese and mixed-green salad with candied nuts, and have looked for similar recipes on-line. I haven't found anything nearly as good." The candied almonds in this recipe are also delicious as a snack on their own—or sprinkled over ice cream.

Lobster stew is a very traditional dish made with lobster, milk, butter, salt, and pepper. You will find this in many restaurants in Maine, the best being the ones with the most lobster. I have embellished on the original dish but have left intact the strong and rich lobster flavor. When Craig Claiborne asked me to put together a New England Thanksgiving dinner, this was the soup I served. It is also great as a hearty main course soup.

Cubed and cooked simply with small white onions, Yukon Gold potatoes are combined with crème fraîche and butter while hot.

For a variation, you could throw in a cup of cooked vegetables left over from Thanksgiving to add texture to this creamy chowder. Serve the soup with chowder crackers, along with a spinach and pear salad. Purchased apple turnovers would make an ideal dessert.