Shallot

Accompanied by Champagne, this beautiful and delicious appetizer starts the meal on a sophisticated note.

An elegant entrée in about 15 minutes — using ingredients you are likely to have on hand. Serve the chicken with mashed potatoes and baby peas or a Bibb lettuce salad for a balanced weeknight meal. Finish with a raspberry tart from the bakery.

Fricasse De Girolles This makes a wonderful side dish to poultry or seafood, or a lovely dish all on its own.

Midweek suggestions are thick-cut fries, sautéed mushrooms and peppermint-stick ice cream. For a touch of glamour, begin with Champagne and caviar, offer roasted potatoes and spinach soufflé with the steak, and have chocolate truffles afterward.

Roasted garlic produces a rich dressing using very little oil.

Once the polenta is made (which, for convenience, can be done a day or two ahead of time) this dish is a snap to put together. Simply sauté the polenta pieces, grill the flank steak, place them on the plate, and spoon on the luscious roasted shallot vinaigrette and you have a quick and very satisfying plate of food. A mound of sautéed mushrooms, or for something lighter, asparagus or haricots verts, is a perfect accompaniment. Crispy potatoes are a splendid substitute for the polenta.

If you don't want to cook a live lobster for this recipe, buy 2/3 pound cooked lobster meat from your seafood shop. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 3/4 hr (includes chilling)

This bright, piquant sauce is also delicious spooned over sautéed chicken, fish, or steak. This recipe is an accompaniment for Cheese- and Shrimp-Stuffed Roasted Poblanos with Red Bell Pepper Sauce.

John Schumacher bought the historic but deteriorating Broz Hotel, 50 miles southwest of Minneapolis, back in 1974. After renovating the building, he reopened it as a European-style hotel and restaurant. Schumachers' is now on the National Register of Historic Places. John's wife, Kathleen, runs the front of the popular restaurant, and John is the chef. His specialties are central European fare — like this veal sauté.

In France, tartines are slices of bread topped with butter and sometimes cheese, honey, or other spreads. Here that simple idea is turned into a sophisticated appetizer when the bread is brushed with chive oil and topped with smoked salmon and goat cheese.

Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr Mashed potatoes are the ideal accompaniment to this dish.

A clever way to present every morsel of a cooked whole artichoke is to remove all the leaves before serving, and use their bits of tender flesh as a stuffing for the hollow artichoke bottom. It takes a bit of time to scrape the leaves of an artichoke clean, so reserve this as a special treat for 2, or at most 4.

An inspired mix of flavors.