Canned Tomato

A braise is like a stew, but requires less liquid and has a longer cooking time. Allow about two and a half hours for the lamb to cook on top of the stove. Serve green beans and the polenta with it. Pour a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Hoisin adds complexity to the flavor of the sauce. You can save some time — and some tears — by chopping the onions in the processor in two batches.

Try this rich sauce over pasta or over the <a></a> Parmesan Polenta Squares

Market Tip: Avoid packaged ground lamb, which can be extremely fatty. Instead, buy shoulder meat or lamb stew meat, which has some fat, and ask the butcher to grind it.

Offer this simple, hearty dish with a green salad, crusty garlic bread and a light red wine, like Beaujolais.

This recipe was inspired by Aunt Gladys's beef, from Laurie Colwin (Gourmet, January 1992), and Nathalie Waag's leg of lamb with tomatoes and garlic (Gourmet, September 1986). The best chuck roasts for this recipe come from the supermarket—fancy butcher shops' meat is too lean and often becomes dry when cooked.

There are several varieties of mustard cabbage; for this recipe we used wrapped-heart mustard cabbage, also called swatow or dai gai choy. Sharp and pungent when raw, mustard cabbage sweetens and mellows with wilting and slow cooking. Try serving this dish with mashed potatoes, which go very well with the gravylike tomato sauce the stuffed cabbage is cooked in.

Though Rose Pascale always uses fresh octopus (sold as pulpo in many Latino markets), we found that it's generally sold frozen. You may need to special-order or reserve octopus from your local fish market several days ahead.

Alongside this colorful main course, offer simple side dishes like white rice mixed with black beans, and steamed chunks of zucchini. Holiday cookies from the bakery top off the meal nicely.