Celery Root

"Because I love to cook, I'll use any excuse to make dinner for my family or friends. Most of the recipes I concoct are partly based on how the ingredients look—presentation is very important to me," Dave Purdy of Hopewell, New Jersey. "Here, I combined celery root with Swiss chard because the colors and textures contrast so nicely." This tangy side dish would be good with roasted poultry or meat.

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

This dish was inspired by pommes Anna, the regal, crisp-crusted potato cake rumored to have been named for Anna Deslions, a famous courtesan in nineteenth-century Paris.

This recipe is a yummy one-pot entrée from The Elements of Taste, by Gray Kunz and Peter Kaminsky. The secret here is browning the meat.

"As a confirmed New Englander, I was surprised to find a terrific seafood restaurant in Phoenix: Steamers Genuine," says Barbara J. Johnson of Worcester, Massachusetts. "The baked halibut was perfectly complemented by roasted vegetables and potatoes au gratin. I know how to make the fish, but I wouldn't know where to start with the other two dishes." This side dish and the Potato Gratin with White Cheddar Cheese would also be good with roast chicken or beef.

It's hard to believe that there's only one tablespoon of butter in this rich-tasting side dish.

This one is delicious made with shrimp and/or scallops, too. If using lobster, garnish the plates with the empty shells.

This dish can be baked along with Pork Loin with Morel Stuffing, but it should go into the oven about 30 minutes before the loin does. Transfer the celery root to the lower third of the oven after 30 minutes so that the loin can be put in the upper third.

Offer this main course with plenty of crusty bread to soak up the delicious saffron broth. A crisp Sauvignon Blanc is good here, too.

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min

Finnan Haddie Gratin Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 2 1/4 hr

Though the truffles lend a wonderfully rich flavor to the shrimp, they are fairly costly, so you might want to save this dish for special occasions.

We recommend using the freshest watercress possible — if not at its best, it can give the sauce a slightly bitter taste. (Try hydroponic watercress; it's generally better than conventionally grown supermarket cress.) Tanis suggests skimming all the fat from the cooking liquid and serving the broth as a first-course soup, garnished with toasted slices of French bread.

If you plan on preparing this side dish the day before serving, reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid and add it to the puree when reheating it.