Shallot

These easy-to-make vegetables are served at Chamberlain's Prime Chop House in Dallas, Texas.

In this easy dish, the sage is at its best, partnered with shallots.

Although we used Asian greens and radish sprouts for our salad, we encourage you to explore your local farmers market and use whatever small young greens (baby spinach, arugula, or watercress, for example) and other fresh goodies you find.

Hazelnuts and wild mushrooms - popular ingredients from Oregon and Washington - add terrific flavor and texture to this sophisticated stuffing.

When you compose a gorgeous salad brimming with the freshest greens, herbs, and flowers, the best choice of dressing is a simple vinaigrette with a fairly neutral flavor that gently blends with the flavors of the salad ingredients instead of overriding them. The key is to use good-quality vinegar and olive oil. I use two kinds of vinegar: a good red wine vinegar or aged sherry vinegar for crispness, and a smaller amount of balsamic for its full body and touch of sweetness. You don't need to use the precious old balsamico tradizionale, but its best to stay away from the very low priced brands. This recipe has a slightly higher than average proportion of vinegar to oil to help balance assertively flavored greens. When it comes to choosing the right oil, try to find a first-rate extra-virgin olive oil with a mild flavor, not a brand that's powerfully fruity. You don't want the oil to jump out as the predominant flavor. The exception is when many of your greens are very bitter or hot, like mustard, radicchio, peppercress, or endive, in which case a very fruity olive oil will balance and tone down their aggressiveness. If you're using this vinaigrette on a salad of many varied and distinctively flavored greens and herbs, like the Herbfarm Garden Salad, I suggest you not add more herbs to the dressing. However, if you are making the vinaigrette for a simpler salad of lettuces and other greens or vegetables, try blending in one of the herbs listed in the variations that follow. The vinaigrette also presents an excellent opportunity to use an herb-infused vinegar.

Pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup, is traditionally made with long-cooked beef stock. Our quick version calls for deli sliced beef and canned beef broth instead.<

"While traveling in the Northern California wine country with friends," writes Stephen Carkeet of Merced, California, "we ate dinner at Zin Restaurant & Wine Bar in Healdsburg and had one of the best meals I can remember. Chef Jeff Mall prepared a wonderful chicken dish he called 'coq au Zin.' It was a winner." A taste — and word — play on the classic French dish coq au vin, this time made with red Zinfandel. At the restaurant, this is served with creamy mashed potatoes.

Celery root, a popular fall vegetable, tastes like a cross between celery and parsley.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr

At The Riviera restaurant in Dallas, this delicious main course is teamed with steamed asparagus and fingerling potatoes roasted with rosemary.

If venison isn't for you, beef tenderloin is a good alternative (see cooks' note, below). Because beef is not as dense and rich as venison, the portions are slightly larger (cooking times and temperatures will also be different).

This elegant first course is ideal for entertaining, because everything can be prepared a day ahead (just chop up all the toppings and refrigerate them until ready to use).

The Mediterranean fish soup bourride is something like a bouillabaisse but has a consistency more like stew. Instead of putting the aïoli directly into the soup, as is traditional, Adams likes to dollop it onto toasts.

This appetizer can be made with the leftover snails from Scallops with Snail-Garlic Butter and Leeks .

Serve as a first course on a bed of arugula or as a side dish with grilled beef or chicken.

We used chef Fergus Henderson's technique for braising duck legs so the skin sides, peeking above the liquid like "alligators in a swamp," stay crisp while the meat braises.

Cranberry sauce or huckleberry preserves can be substituted for the lingonberry preserves. Serve with: Roasted fingerling potatoes tossed with dill, and a mixed green salad.

Coarse kosher salt — or any other coarse salt — will add texture and enhance the flavor of the meat. Serve with: Oven-roasted new potatoes, thin green beans, and a crusty baguette.