Thyme

Accompany this colorful dish with rice pilaf and baby peas with pearl onions. The kicker: spice bars and orange slices.

Pair this with a crisp French Chablis, the Chardonnay-based white from Burgundy.

Hazelnuts and prosciutto are combined in a seasoned butter that coats the turkey as it roasts, and also flavors the gravy.

BORDEAUX The juniper berries are an earthy contrast to the sweet prunes — a prized regional product — in this dish. Serve roasted sliced potatoes and sautéed mushrooms alongside. What to drink: Red Bordeaux or a varietal blend of Cabernet and Merlot.

Kim Massman of Santa Monica, California, writes: "Help me, please. Since dining at The Federalist in the XV Beacon Hotel in Boston, I haven't been able to get the macaroni and cheese out of my mind. It was made with pasta, ham, and a creamy cheese sauce." The ham lends a salty flavor to this dish. Wait until the sauce is combined with the pasta and ham before seasoning with salt.

For ease of preparation, ask for the full round, not the short cut or partial leg, and have the butcher butterfly it for you.

"I recently had lunch at Café Boulud here in New York," says Shelli Rafkin of New York, New York. "My entrée, blanquette de veau, had the most incredible sauce I've ever tasted. The whole dish, in fact, was sensational." In this variation on the classic stew, the veal and the vegetables are cooked separately and combined at the end, when they're topped with a rich white sauce.

In addition to the herb mayonnaise and blue cheese coleslaw, sliced tomatoes would be perfect alongside.

For a light meal, all you need is some crusty French bread and a garden salad to go with this comforting soup.

Generally this dish is served in Andalusia as part of a mixed fish fry, but it's wonderful on its own. The marinade makes the fish flavorful and succulent.

Here's the real thing — far more vividly colored, textured and flavored than the stuff that comes out of a can, and far more comforting. A drizzle of lemon-rosemary cream gives this classic American soup an Italian touch.

"At a recent lunch at the Stage House Inn in Scotch Plains, I was served a braised veal shank," writes Max J. Kalm of Westfield, New Jersey. "This version was so much better than the ones I’ve prepared. Would chef David Drake be willing to share his recipe?" The restaurant serves this entrée with a vegetable risotto. Mashed potatoes would also be a good side dish for the veal shanks.

Offer a hearty Cabernet Sauvignon with this impressive prime rib.

If you don't have fresh salmon, canned salmon is a perfectly fine stand-in.

An easy herbed cream sauce accents sautéed chicken breasts.