Gorgonzola

Serve this delicate salad as a first course or alongside grilled chicken. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

"I had a delightful dinner at Andiamo! Ristorante while on vacation in San Diego," writes Laverne Smith of Seattle, Washington. "Could you get their recipe for fettuccine carbonara? It was the best pasta I've ever had." Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the fettuccine will be hot when the sauce is finished; the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs that are tossed with it.

A true demi-glace — the luscious sauce made by reducing homemade stock and red wine to a rich concentration — needs to simmer for several hours, making it the perfect activity for a lazy winter Sunday.

Gorgonzola cheese adds zip to this salad.

"We lived in New York for several months, long enough to learn to love the creamy polenta at Union Square Cafe," says Ross and Karen Martin of Pasadena, California. "If you can't get their recipe, we might need to fly across the country to have the dish again." This polenta gets its richness from being cooked in a milk-cream mixture instead of the usual water or broth.

Pour a chilled dry Gewürztraminer to accompany the salad and offer crusty bread throughout dinner.

Allen Susser is the man behind Chef Allen's, a favorite special-occasion restaurant near Miami. (He is also a cookbook author, has his own line of sauces, puts out a newsletter and has a Web site—www.chefallen.com.) Calling his food New World Cuisine, Susser uses an international repertoire of cooking techniques to prepare dishes with the best local ingredients. His focus on simple but powerful flavors shows in this dish.

These are equally good with either ground pork or ground lamb.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Serve with: Romaine salad with creamy Italian dressing, and steamed Broccolini. Dessert: Lemon gelato topped with sliced figs and Marsala.

If fresh figs aren't available, dried black Mission figs can be substituted here; look for ones that are soft and moist. What to drink: Crisp Pinot Grigio pairs nicely with the entire meal.

As in all of Italy, pasta is served as a first course (primo) in Tuscany.

The sweet figs and tangy Gorgonzola are perfect partners in this unique and delicious take on a popular hors d'oeuvre.