Dairy

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This dip is especially attractive served in a hollowed-out head of Castelfranco radicchio, a white radicchio with loose, pink-streaked leaves that readily open to form a bowl.

Popular in the Italian kitchen for eons, risotto and wild mushrooms were embraced in the nineties by American home cooks and restaurant chefs alike. Offer this delicious version as a starter or a main course.

Dense, moist, and delicious, this bread is great as a quick snack or with a bit of whipped honey butter for afternoon tea.

Farmers' markets offer the widest selection of fresh baby potatoes, but if you can't find golf-ball-size versions of any of the varieties in this recipe, simply purchase large potatoes and cut them into 1 1/2-inch pieces.

"My Aunt Rose, a consummate baker, perfected this pound cake, which for years has graced the table of every family gathering," says Barbara Chazan of New York, New York.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Makes use of the microwave oven.

"Moist and pretty in color when blackberry, currant, or some such jam was used, [jam cake] was a favorite with pioneer women, for it kept well," James Beard wrote in his American Cookery (Little Brown, 1972). The only thing more that might be said about jam cake is that it is delicious.

Partially freezing the tenderloin after searing it makes slicing easier.

(TORTINO DI PATATE ALLA PARMIGIANA) Gratins made from potatoes and other vegetables have long been a part of the country cooking around Parma. Here's a rich one that takes advantage of a star ingredient: Parmesan cheese. The dish is often served during Lent or on other meatless days.

It may be corn season, but canned or frozen corn kernels work just as well as fresh in this corn salad. A mixed green salad rounds out the menu nicely.