Weeknight Meals

"Out of necessity, I've developed a love for quick cooking," writes Judy Wilkins of Tyler, Texas. "Between my musician's hours (nights and weekends as an accompanist for local choral groups) and teacher's hours (daytime piano lessons), my schedule can be nuts. When I do have the chance to cook dinner on a weeknight, whatever I make can't take too long — and it has to taste great."

Serve with: Parslied new potatoes and a frisée salad with goat cheese. Dessert: Pineapple sorbet with sliced strawberries.

Flounder is a lean, thin fish that cooks very quickly. So be sure to cook it 4 to 5 inches from the heat source — and watch it carefully! Clover sprouts are available in the produce department of better supermarkets.

This tangy relish also goes well with chicken or pork.

This sophisticated main-course pasta goes wonderfully with garlic bread, Italian-style mixed greens drizzled with vinaigrette, and raspberry gelato with Italian macaroons.

I hadn't expected to find an entry on meat loaf in Alan Davidson's magisterial Oxford Companion to Food (1999). Indeed, I only looked it up there so I could say that meat loaf was a great and ubiquitous dish that everyone snubbed. Meat loaf, I intended to say, is a kind of joke.... Alan Davidson let me down. He had plenty to say about meat loaf..."a dish whose visibility is considerably higher in real life, especially in N. America and Britain, than in cookery books."

Begin making this one day ahead. If you plan to take this on a sailing trip or a picnic, grill the chicken at home, then transport it in a cooler and serve it cold, or let it stand at room temperature up to two hours. Crusty bread and white wine are perfect accompaniments.

"My husband and I celebrated my fiftieth birthday on the island of St. John, where we enjoyed many terrific meals," says Eileen Hruby of Tom's River, NJ. "One day, we had lunch at Pusser's Ltd. in Cruz Bay. The coleslaw they served was extraordinary: cool and hot at the same time. I have no idea how it was made." Serrano chilies give this dish a real kick; the lime juice makes it refreshing.

This salad, crunchy with red pepper and fennel, pairs well with the broiled trout or with grilled lamb or chicken.

The saffron adds not only a lovely aroma but vivid color as well. Open a bottle of Chardonnay to go with the meal.

Add rice or soft oriental noodles, and this becomes a quick supper. Look for wasabi powder and sesame oil in the Asian foods section of the supermarket.

Chipotles give these burgers — from Hal's Bar & Grill in Venice, California — a terrific kick.

Serve steamed rice with this dish to sop up all the garlicky sauce. You'll be amazed at how much the turkey tastes like veal—at a fraction of the cost.