White Wine

Serve with: Baked sweet potatoes and sautéed Swiss chard. Dessert: Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Wild striped bass is an incredible delicacy on the order of wild king salmon. To complement its robust flavor and steak-like texture, we serve it with a beautiful and aggressive squid vinaigrette. This is not a dish for people who are on the fence about eating fish.

We recommend using a sturdy food mill (available at cookware stores) to help produce a thick stew base from simmered vegetables and fish. Alternatively, you can use a large heavy-duty mesh sieve to strain the seafood broth. Then push through enough fish and vegetables to make 13 cups of stew base. Serve cioppino with sourdough toasts.

The rich, fruity sweetness of a late-harvest Riesling (added to a syrup that is drizzled over the free-form tart) beautifully complements the natural sugars in roasted pears.

Hold the mayo: This rustic side dish is dressed with a Provence-inspired blend of white wine, Dijon mustard and capers. Be sure the potatoes are still warm when you add them to the dressing; they’ll absorb it better, enhancing the flavor of the dish.

This impressive main course is ideal for a healthful dinner party. Serve it with crusty country style bread to soak up the flavorful juices.

The ribs can be braised one day ahead and topped with the breadcrumb mixture shortly before serving. What to drink: Robust Pinot Noirs with firm acid (to cut the richness of this dish), such as French Burgundies from Volnay, and Oregon or California Pinots.

Sheila Stein of Woodbury, New York, New York, writes: "We've eaten several times at La Viola of Syosset. Their chicken française is excellent. Could you get the recipe for me?"

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 25 min Chuck blade steaks are a wonderful cut — luxurious flavor at a bargain price. They may appear under different names — flatiron or book steaks, for instance — in your butcher case, but they're easy to spot: Neat ovals that are slightly larger than your palm and bisected by a slender white ribbon — of gristle.

"Cooking with friends — that's pretty much what my life has been about," writes Louise Pickerel of Muskogee, Oklahoma. "When I moved here from Texas ten years ago, it was hard to leave the people I'd known for so long, but I've probably met two hundred new people since then. I have always entertained, but now that I'm retired, I finally have more time to play bridge and cook." Perfect for Thanksgiving, these warm hors d'oeuvres can be assembled a day ahead and chilled, then baked before serving.

Serve these festive birds with roasted broccoli (as easy as steamed) and a wild rice pilaf with sliced green onions. Finish with caramel ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and chopped walnuts.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 hr

The name for this beautiful Bordelais dish is mouclade. Use small mussels to approximate the tiny, sweet variety cultivated just off the coast north of Bordeaux. What to drink: Baron Philippe de Rothschild 2000 Mouton Cadet Blanc.

Croûte Forestière This is based on a croûte forestière I tasted at the Bois Gourmand restaurant outside Champagnole, in the heart of the mountainous Jura region in France. The restaurant is known in the area for its regional specialties, and this was an intriguing interpretation of the typical croûte forestière which is made entirely with morels.

Serve this rustic dish with French bread or rice to savor every last drop.

"My best cooking is done on Sundays during the fall and winter," writes Lisa Caiazzo of Franklin Square, New York, "when I become a football widow. The game doesn't appeal to me at all, so I happily escape to the kitchen while my husband, Angelo, roots for the Giants. Often I prepare a feast that includes meatballs and sauce, chicken cutlets, roasted peppers, hot bread, and crème brûlée. An afternoon of cooking can be very therapeutic after a busy week. And since Angelo is actually a bigger fan of my food than of football, I'm always shown plenty of appreciation."

Ravigote sauce is piquant vinaigrette that typically contains onions, capers, and herbs. The hard-boiled egg in this rendition gives the sauce body. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr