Egg Noodle

This is definitely American — with dark brown sugar and pecans! Your guests will love it.

If you're craving a comforting, old-fashioned chicken dish, this is it. Rendering the fat from the chicken skin gives the sauce its rich flavor.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

In classic Chinese cooking, noodles destined for soup are cooked separately and added at the last minute so that the starch from the pasta doesn't cloud the broth. Because we were aiming for a rib-sticking dish, we broke with tradition and cooked the noodles right in the stock, allowing the starch to thicken the soup slightly.

Mung bean sprouts, commonly known simply as bean sprouts, are available in the produce section of most supermarkets.

Good as a side dish or meatless entráe.

This is a lighter, first-course version of a classic Pennsylvania main-course soup. Saffron was initially a Colonial rich man's spice, and it retained a certain panache even for the Pennsylvania Dutch in Philadelphia, who grew their own.

Shullie Neumark of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, writes: "I like cooking but I'm a little bit impatient, which is why I make dishes that can be done ahead of time — and quickly. I hate being rushed before meals, especially when guests are on their way over. Those guests are usually good friends or members of our large family. Often I'll prepare some of the Russian and Lithuanian recipes passed down from my relatives." Shullie's lighter take on the classic dish features tomato sauce instead of sour cream.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Find the dried mushrooms in the produce section of the supermarket. Breadsticks and a radicchio salad with crumbled goat cheese and lemon vinaigrette round out the meal. End with poached apricots and honey cookies.

A green salad completes the meal. What to drink: A riserva Chianti.

With a miso-boosted cheese sauce and no shortage of potato chips.

This psychedelic purple sauce has all the earthiness and tang of sour-cream-topped borscht.

Smothered in a red curry and coconut milk sauce, these noodles are crispy-meets-soggy at its best.

An ultra savory take on the vegetarian classic, with soy sauce, scallions, and wonton noodles.

What’s more comforting than saucy chicken over buttered egg noodles?? Nothing.

This tuna casserole recipe has a homemade cream of mushroom sauce hit with cheddar cheese and a crunchy potato chip topping.