Leek

"While vacationing in Vero Beach, Florida, I had a magnificent meal at Tangos," writes Peter Colley of Silver Creek, Colorado. "The food presentation was superb, and the outdoor patio made for a very romantic dining experience. I would like to have the recipe for the divine baked crab, Brie, and artichoke dip."

We make this rich, intensely flavored stock for our mushroom soups, sauces, and ragouts. The dried shiitake mushrooms give the stock depth and tremendous flavor. They're readily available in the Asian section of most grocery stores, but if you can't find them, substitute another variety of dried mushrooms — fresh mushrooms alone will make a weak stock. This stock freezes well.

In addition to the fried parsnip the executive chef at Ashford Castle, Denis Lenihan, often adorns this soup with a poached carved apple.

Chef Louis Diat created this famous cold soup (without the peas, which are a nice addition) during his tenure at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York. Diat named the soup after Vichy, the resort town near his boyhood home in France. Hot potato-leek soup had been popular with French chefs for centuries, but Diat-inspired by his own childhood habit of adding milk to hot soup to cool it of-served his version cold. Exactly when vichyssoise first appeared on the hotel menu is unclear, but British food writer Elizabeth David claimed that it debuted in 1917.

Here's a classic Irish combination.

Of course, you must have toasted bagels with this. Spinach salad with apple cider dressing would be nice on the side, and warm cherry strudel is a fine finish.

This classic dish is good warm or at room temperature, making it perfect for a buffet.

To make this a vegetarian chili, use an additional eight ounces of lentils instead of the pound of ground beef.

This silky puree can be made one day ahead. What to drink: That's easy — offer guests Irish ale throughout the meal.

A creamy "comfort" soup that has plenty of richness without a lot of cream.

For an especially quick and easy meal, buy prepared Chinese barbecued pork loin (3/4 pound will be plenty). This pink-tinged meat is available at many Asian supermarkets—or you may even be able to purchase it from your neighborhood Chinese restaurant.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

Active time: 1 3/4 hr Start to finish: 12 hr Before you start this recipe, make sure there's room in your refrigerator for a 24-inch fish poacher and a 25-inch platter.

Bruce Aidells, founder of Aidell's Sausage Company, says, "I first discovered that fennel was a delicious vegetable while enjoying Christmas Eve dinner at the home of a dear friend of mine, the late cooking teacher Loni Kuhn. At her own family's holiday meals, a gratin of fennel, potatoes and cheese was a much appreciated standard. The mild anise flavor of cooked fennel goes particularly well with roast turkey or roast pork, and it has been a regular at my family's holiday table for more than twenty years."

Lane Crowther, Bon Appétit contributing editor, "Stuffing has always set the tone for our Thanksgiving dinners. We choose the stuffing—it might be Tex-Mex, or another regional American, or something else—then create the menu around it. A few years ago, the feast had an Italian accent, and a vegetable stuffing led the way."

Chef Jody Adams of Rialto at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge is famous for this type of rustic dish. At the restaurant she serves the stew on mashed potatoes.

The Mediterranean fish soup bourride is something like a bouillabaisse but has a consistency more like stew. Instead of putting the aïoli directly into the soup, as is traditional, Adams likes to dollop it onto toasts.

Barley gives this a wonderful chewy texture.