Sun-Dried Tomato

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Davina uses this olive paste as a pizza topping, as a flavor pickup for purchased pasta sauces and as a spread for baguette slices.

It’s unclear just who the Louis of Crab Louis salad fame was; perhaps he was affiliated with the Olympic Club in Seattle, where opera star Enrico Caruso, who visited there in 1904, is said to have fallen in love with the crab salad. San Francisco also claims the dish, which reached its zenith there in the teens, as a specialty at Solari’s restaurant and at the St. Francis Hotel.

"Recently I had dinner at a fine restaurant with a peculiar name: The Place Next to the San Juan Ferry," says Beth Fogarty Day of Redmond, Washington. "It's right by the water in Friday Harbor, Washington. I'd love the recipe for the mushroom and goat cheese appetizer."

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Skillet-toasted fresh breadcrumbs tossed with Parmesan cheese add crunch to this terrific side dish.

Have your butcher order the veal breast, then ask him to bone, butterfly, and pound it, forming a rectangle that has the dimensions described in the recipe.

Jim Fobel, cookbook author, says. "My mother never put sun-dried tomatoes in her mashed potatoes, as I do in this recipe. She made them ahead, then topped them with Parmesan and butter, and baked them. I've always loved those potatoes, and the layer of chopped sun-dried tomatoes I've added provides some terrific extra flavor."