Weeknight Meals

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Sweet and hot Italian sausages are delicious grilled over charcoal.

Serve this main-course salad with some crusty bread, and offer fresh fruit for dessert. To prepare the dish, use leftovers from the Roast Pork Loin with Garlic and Rosemary , or broil two 4-ounce boneless pork loin chops until cooked through and then dice. Note that nutritional numbers are for either cut of pork.

Bruce Aidells, founder of Aidell's Sausage Company, says, "I first discovered that fennel was a delicious vegetable while enjoying Christmas Eve dinner at the home of a dear friend of mine, the late cooking teacher Loni Kuhn. At her own family's holiday meals, a gratin of fennel, potatoes and cheese was a much appreciated standard. The mild anise flavor of cooked fennel goes particularly well with roast turkey or roast pork, and it has been a regular at my family's holiday table for more than twenty years."

I've seen portobello mushrooms in so many restaurant dishes lately that I decided to develop my own recipe," says Eileen M. Watson of Oviedo, Florida. "I like to serve these stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer when I entertain, but they also make a terrific meatless entrée."

A word of warning: I have a friend who at first refused to eat this dish because of its color, a wild, alarming fuschia. He complained that it did not look "natural." Since then he has been persuaded. The taste, he said, won him over. This is generally served at room temperature or chilled.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Calcutta, former seat of the British Empire and today capital of West Bengal, sits just above the Ganges delta. Fish is cooked here in harmonious combinations with root vegetables, squash, and leafy greens, incorporating Bengali seasonings such as pungent kalonji seeds and ground mustard seeds. In the following recipe, for a truly authentic taste use mustard oil instead of vegetable oil. Be sure, though, to heat the mustard oil to the smoking point and let it smoke for 3 to 5 seconds. This tempers its pungency.

For a quick sauce to go with the fish, whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and chopped fresh dill.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

A robust mix of white beans and macaroni in a light tomato sauce, ready to serve in under 30 minutes.

This is a handy recipe for families where the kids have less sophisticated tastes than the adults. Without doing more work or cooking something different, you can please everyone. Because this recipe is quick but requires tending to, be sure to finish whatever side dish you're serving first. I like this with plain cracked wheat or rice, or steamed potatoes or broccoli.

Freeze some of this sauce now and treat yourself to a burst of summer one cold, wintry day.

As accompaniments to this great-tasting main course, serve the Risotto-Style Barley with Spring Greens, and pour glasses of chilled Pinot Grigio.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. A popular Japanese sauce perks up the grilled shrimp. For side dishes, garnish purchased sesame noodle salad with chopped green onions and peanuts, and put out a plate of carrot and celery sticks. As long as the coals are hot, grill slices of fresh pineapple, then top them with vanilla ice cream and shredded coconut.

To accompany the pork, toss egg noodles with butter and chives, and sprinkle lemon juice over sautéed vegetables. Finish with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce.