Puff Pastry

Offer a small salad of baby greens with a shallot and tarragon vinaigrette.

Plum fans take note: The jam recipe here is a stand-alone bonus, especially if that tree in the garden is overloaded. (You can triple the jam recipe below for a yield of two generous cups and store it in the refrigerator for up to one week.) Pastry novices should also note that this is one napoleon that holds together beautifully when sliced — so go for it.

Here, grapes top rounds of puff pastry (purchased, for ease), which form the crust of the two rustic tarts.

In the book American Gourmet, Jane and Michael Stern describe beef Wellington as a "lardaceous dish" that is "rich beyond reason." The pastry-wrapped beef was the ultimate in dinner-party fare in the sixties. In our re-creation, salmon fillets cook in frozen puff pastry sheets, which arrived in the seventies.

Elegance doesn't come any easier than this treat made with purchased puff pastry.

For best results, choose ripe yellow bananas that do not have brown speckles on their skins. This dessert is great served either slightly warm or at room temperature.

Executive chef Bridget Batson of Hawthorne Lane serves this dessert with homemade caramel sauce (you can use purchased if you like). If you're running short of time, omit the homemade ice cream and mix chopped peanut brittle into your favorite vanilla ice cream.

All of the components for this sophisticated dessert can be made the day before, then assembled quickly at the last minute. Sabayon (also called zabaglione) is a custard sauce that is whisked over hot water until it is light and foamy.

Frangipane is typically a ground almond filling; here, walnuts are used in a similar preparation. You can make the frangipane and cut out the pastry one day ahead.

Active time: 35 min Start to finish: 45 min

These look very pretty when presented on a plate of sliced strawberries.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Prick the pastry with a fork so that it doesn't puff up during baking. This tart works as an entree or, cut into smaller pieces, as hors d'oeuvres.

These cookies are best enjoyed the same day they are made.

We used a wire mesh cooling rack to form the decorative pattern on this pastry, but any metal cooling rack can be used. Also, if you have a small rack that cannot cover all the pastry at once, you will need to bake it in batches.