Leek

This chilled soup is traditionally garnished with fresh chives. We added the peppery snap of watercress and the tang of buttermilk to give it bite.

This soup must be served very cold, so for best results, prepare it a day ahead and let it chill overnight in the refrigerator.

A citrusy aroma will fill your kitchen as fish fillets and a variety of vegetables bake in foil packets. Spoon on the sauce and enjoy!

For a flavor change, replace beef or chicken broth with this tasty, so-easy-to-make broth. If you have extra broth, see the Cook’s Tip on Freezing Broth (page 51).

This colorful tart uses leftover cooked risotto for the crust, in this case risotto milanese, the classic that is infused with saffron. Any leftover risotto you have can be frozen and saved for this purpose. You can cube pancetta and roast in the oven until rendered of fat and slightly crisp, then add that to the filling of the tart. Smoked poultry such as chicken or duck is great as well.

Tart crusts can be made from other ingredients, including cooked spaghetti, polenta, and rice, or in this case, thinly sliced potatoes. The goal is to make a crisp, shallow vessel that will contain the filling without leaking. This is especially important when a custard filling is used. The baby artichokes in this recipe can be replaced by thinly sliced artichoke hearts.

Scalloped potatoes was one of my favorite childhood dishes. I’ve added the classic combination of crab and spinach to this version and lightened the sauce a bit by using milk instead of cream. You can substitute shrimp or lobster meat for the crab.

My mother often cooked this dish when my family camped out. If you have leftover cooked chicken, use that instead of the smoked chicken, though the smoky taste is great in this dish.

Homemade soups fill the kitchen with a welcome air, and can be so full and natural and fresh that they solve that always nagging question of “what to serve as a first course.”

I’m not sure which parent I’m indebted to for this recipe. Probably both. When my mother met my father, she was neither a practiced diner nor an experienced cook. To rectify the situation and satisfy his own culinary demands, my father gave my mother a copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking as soon as they were married. When I was growing up, this was one of my favorite recipes from that book. I served my own interpretation of the dish at one of our first Sunday suppers at Lucques. First I browned the chicken thighs and slathered them in a quick-to-make mustard-and-breadcrumb combo and then roasted them on a bed of braised leeks. The chicken emerges from the oven crisp and brown, while the leeks become tender, and permeated with the flavors of the chicken.

These leeks are also delicious cold, dressed with a mustard vinaigrette and served with sliced prosciutto and chopped egg.

Inspired by the robust cooking of Alsace, a region in northeastern France bordering Germany, this flaky pie features a rich filling of potatoes, Comté (or Gruyère) cheese, leeks, and garlic-infused cream. Rather than adding the cream to the filling at the beginning, it is poured through the vents on top of the pie only after the pastry has turned golden brown, and then the pie is baked ten minutes more. This allows the crust to crisp properly and keeps the potatoes from soaking up all the cream before the pie has finished baking.

The lattice top is taken to a new level with this yellow-and-green basket-weave design made from strips of summer squashes. The tart offers as good a reason as any to head to a farmers’ market—or, if you’re lucky, your own garden—for zucchini and yellow squash. Use a mandoline or other adjustable-blade slicer to slice the squashes lengthwise.

Baby leeks, sautéed until meltingly tender and arranged end to end, top this showstopping first course. Other components include Niçoise olives and two types of cheese—one fresh (Pavé d’Affinois, a soft cow’s milk cheese similar to Brie); the other aged (Parmigiano-Reggiano). If you can’t find baby leeks, you can use regular leeks, or if it’s springtime, look for ramps at a farmers’ market.

This is a great basic recipe that allows for interchangeable veggies. You can use any combination of root veggies, including rutabagas, turnips, or different potatoes. The cream adds a nice richness and velvety texture, but you can get a similar effect without the cream if you use a rich, creamy potato like a yellow finn or German butterball. And when it’s available, spring green garlic is a great substitute for the regular garlic for an added burst of flavor.

Hubert Keller, chef-owner of San Francisco’s Fleur de Lys, patterned this recipe after the traditional Provençal soupe doux (sweet garlic soup), a specialty of the peasant kitchen. But as you might expect from a chef for one of the city’s most elegant restaurants, Chef Keller has refined the procedure, blanching the garlic to temper some of its bite and adding saffron for a richer color. A poached egg set on a crouton in the center of the soup really dresses up the dish. Chef Keller participated in the 1991 Workshop.

To save time, you can make this recipe with store-bought pie dough; look for refrigerated dough (not frozen piecrusts) made with butter rather than margarine or partially hydrogenated oils.

Nothing complements pork like the flavor of apples; here the fruit is sautéed with leeks and honey. This recipe calls for roasting an extra tenderloin; serve one with the apples, and reserve one for use in a recipe on the following page.

For its flavor, this Italian favorite relies on a combination of vegetables that are first sautéed and then simmered in water—no broth required. You can make the soup through step 2 up to two days beforehand, and then add the beans and pasta just before serving.