1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (or an oil blend of your choice) 1/4 cup rice vinegar 1 garlic clove, minced 1 shallot, finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon salt Salad: 1/2 cup walnuts 4 cups white endive 4 cups baby spinach 1/4 cup Italian flat-leafed parsley, chopped 2 large ripe pears, peeled and diced 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled Freshly ground black pepper

Make the vinaigrette in a shaker bottle or whisk in a bowl. Set aside or chill. Preaheat the oven to 275º. Spread walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Chop walnuts. Angle-cut endive in half inch pieces. In a large salad bowl, place the walnuts, sliced endive, spinach, parsley, diced pears, and crumbled blue cheese. Toss with the vinaigrette and serve with freshly ground pepper.

Melt butter (or heat olive oil) in a fry pan. Add zucchini slices and chopped onion and sauté until soft. Add tomato and stir until tomato is cooked down to create a sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.

Artfully arrange romaine, sliced onion, citrus and avocado in layers on a platter. Dribble with the vinaigrette and serve at once.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut acorn squash in half. Remove the seeds and strings (an ice cream scoop works well). Brush cut surface with melted butter. Place on a baking sheet and cover with foil. Bake until slightly tender when tested with a fork, about 25 minutes. Remove foil. Brush again with butter. Salt lightly and sprinkle with nutmeg. Continue baking until very tender and lightly browned (20-30 minutes).

Angle cut in half inch wide pieces the four white endives and two of the red endives. Quarter the artichoke hearts. Remove the flesh from 1 1/2 of the avocados and chop into small cubes. Reserve the other half, cut into thin slices, and set aside for garnish. Toss the salad ingredients and the dressing together and serve on a bed of the remaining red endive leaves. Garnish with the reserved avocado slices.

Cut away the fennel bulb's tough base, leaves and the stringy part of the stalk. Leave the tender part of the bulb and lower, whiter part of the stalks. With a long, thin, serrated knife, slice the remaining fennel as thinly as possible to form rounds and half moons. Set aside. In a bowl, use a wire whisk to beat the olive oil followed by each of the remaining ingredients. Toss in the sliced fennel. Taste carefully for seasonings and serve at once.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the corn from the cobs, then run the dull side of the knife blade down the cobs to scrape out all the milky corn left behind. Butter a shallow 2-quart glass or ovenproof pottery casserole with soft, unsalted butter. In a bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the corn, the cream and the shallot. Season with salt and a little pepper and pour the mixture into the casserole. Set the casserole in a roasting pan, add hot water to come halfway up the sides of the casserole and bake about 40 minutes, until the edges of the custard are set and the center barely quivers when the casserole is shaken. Remove the custard from the oven; it is to be served warm, not hot. Make the salsa: Peel and seed the tomatoes, chop them and put them in a bowl. Stir in the remaining ingredients, adjusting the amounts of hot pepper, coriander and lime juice to taste. To serve, spoon a pool of salsa onto a medium plate. Using a large spoon, cut out a circle of custard and set it on top of the salsa. Pass the remaining salsa in a bowl.

In a large, thick-bottomed skillet and over medium heat, melt butter. Add oil. Using a wooden spoon, sauté shallots in oil and butter until just golden. Raise heat to high and add quartered mushrooms. Stir. When mushrooms have absorbed much of the fat, turn heat to low. Add salt and papper and stir until the mushrooms begin to give up their juice. Raise heat to high again and cook 3 - 4 minutes, shaking the pan and stirring frequently. Add the heavy cream and cook for just a few minutes or until some of the cream has been absorbed by the mushrooms and the sauce has slightly thickened.

Steam green beans until just tender (do not overcook - maintain the bright green color). Sauté garlic in olive oil until garlic just begins to color. Add all ingredients except sherry and stir until hot. Add sherry before removing from stove. Drizzle over green beans and serve.

In an amply sized bowl, toss together all the ingredients, including the orange juice. Serve in small, deep bowls. Or, arrange red leaf lettuce on salad plates, top with a scoop of cottage cheese, and spoon the compote over the top.

In the bottom of a chilled bowl, beat honey, olive oil and mustard with a wire whisk. Shred the peeled carrots using the large grating disk of a food processor or, simply, on the large teeth of an old fashioned grater. Toss carrots and dill in the honey mixture. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.