Shallot

A lovely twist on the traditional pear and blue cheese pairing. Tender lamb's lettuce and toasted walnuts provide great contrasting textures. Use a vegetable peeler to make thin shavings of Parmesan.

Sliced raw fennel, roasted baby artichokes, and bright green edamame make one fabulous, Italian-inspired salad.

Here's a perfect partner for turkey or veal burgers, sausages and toasted French bread.

Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 45 min

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Be sure to have the butcher bone the veal chops. Serve this elegant main course with vegetables.

Jeanne Thiel Kelley, a contributing editor to Bon Appétit, says, "Every year, my family gets together for a big buffet, and soup is always the appetizer. The host greets the rest of the family at the door with a small cup of soup and a glass of wine. Each year the soup changes, but this one is particularly nice. It has lots of flavor and a creamy texture, yet isn’t so rich that it spoils the appetite."

To my way of thinking, the traditional way of serving hanger steak is the best. The steaks are quickly pan-roasted—they're best served medium-rare (although in France they're often served "bleu," so rare that they're almost blue and only just warm in the center)—and sauced with shallots that have been cooked to a compote's consistency with red wine and vinegar and then tossed with butter and herbs. Whether you sauce the steaks or not (sometimes small bistros in France will serve the steaks with just a spoonful of butter and some sea salt or a pot of strong mustard), I hope you'll serve them with the greatest and most classic accompaniment: pommes frites, French-fried potatoes.

Butter melting over a pan-fried steak mingles with its rosy juices, creating a luscious sauce right on the plate. For smaller appetites, these large steaks can be cut in half to serve four.

This turkey is roasted in true French fashion with black truffles and shallots. Prepare the truffle butter and rub it over the turkey the day before roasting. A red Burgundy complements the earthy truffle flavor.

Begin marinating the chicken breasts at least three hours ahead.

A clever way to present every morsel of a cooked whole artichoke is to remove all the leaves before serving, and use their bits of tender flesh as a stuffing for the hollow artichoke bottom. It takes a bit of time to scrape the leaves of an artichoke clean, so reserve this as a special treat for 2, or at most 4.