Easy

This main dish is delicious served with boiled potatoes or rice.

You can make this sauce with thawed frozen peas instead of fresh, in which case they don’t need to be blanched. The sauce can be made up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container. Reheat over medium-low heat, adding water to thin, if necessary.

You can serve this dish hot, cold, or at room temperature. Cook the fish in batches if your oven is small. Dried beans work best, but you can substitute 6 cups of drained, rinsed canned beans; begin with step 3.

This recipe, without the shrimp (and with vegetable stock), makes a nice vegetarian main dish; serve it with grated Parmesan cheese.

Liana DiMeglio of Liana’s Trattoria in Fairfield, Connecticut, brought this recipe from Naples, Italy, years ago.

For more-generous portions, cook one hen per person. If you do, use two roasting pans, and double the other ingredients.

You can use any firm-fleshed fish for this recipe. Scattering salt in the skillet prevents the fish from sticking without adding fat, and also seasons it. This dish is delicious at any temperature.

To bake individual pies, use 6 10-ounce ramekins, and reduce cooking time to 20 to 30 minutes.

Garlic gives the dish a mellow flavor.

We serve this flavorful gravy over meatloaf and mashed potatoes, but it is equally good with other classic comfort foods, such as ham and biscuits.

If you can’t find precut chicken quarters, ask your butcher to quarter a 5-pound chicken and remove the backbone.