Bon Appétit

Elegant dessert cups from Senses Bakery in Washington, D.C.

In this typical Northern Italian entrée, polenta is topped with a rich and meaty ragù. Begin preparing the dish one day before you plan to serve it.

These pretty mixtures of bread and sweetened berries are inspired by the classic English dessert called summer pudding. Begin preparing them one day before serving so that the bread will absorb the delicious juices.

Don't let these cool — they're best served straight from the oven.

(LOU MIAS AVEC COMPOTE DE CERISES NOIRES) Traditionally, this cake—a Christmas specialty of the town of Séguret in the Vaucluse — is made with goat's milk (look for it in the supermarket dairy case), but feel free to use cow's milk.

Serve these pancakes immediately, since they do not keep well in a warm oven.

Smoky vegetables, corn and brown rice are dressed with citrus vinaigrette.

Purchased phyllo makes this pear strudel quick and easy to prepare. For best results, let the thawed frozen phyllo stand in its box at room temperature a few hours before starting. Be sure to use ripe fresh pears for the filling.

For this easy starter, the nonfat yogurt is strained to a thick texture and then combined with oregano, lemon peel and cayenne.

While this cake tastes delicious on its own, enhance it with dollops of whipped cream or nondairy topping and a few orange segments.

"Last summer we spent a week in Paso Robles, California, and had an excellent dinner at Bistro Laurent," say Rusty and Stacey Willi of Santa Rosa, California. "To our delight, dessert—a warm raspberry clafouti topped with vanilla ice cream—turned out to be one of our favorite vacation memories." This dessert has a more cake-like texture than a traditional clafouti. The version here is even better topped with ice cream.

The gravy is a refined, delicious sauce in this duo from Barbara Shinn and David Page, co-owners of Home restaurant in New York and co-authors of Recipes from Home.

Buttermilk makes the cake tender, and cream cheese adds great texture to the frosting.

This light and spicy sauce is especially good on chicken. For convenience, you can mix the spices ahead, then add the vinegar just before using.

This traditional Indian dish is usually served with basmati rice or Indian bread.

Boiling away the butter and seasonings from the leftover vegetables allows the flavors of the marinade to shine through. (If you don't have any leftover veggies, simply steam a mix of your favorites.)