School Night Dinner

Every few weeks, especially given the turntable of seasonal changes, I’ll offer you a short menu for a soup-to-nuts meal, assembled from recipes on this site. Now that school’s back in session, here are dishes that not only appeal to different likes but also that can be prepared mostly ahead of time—some taste better made in advance—and, for a few recipes, that also freeze well.

Starters & Sides: Soup to begin always works, from a cooling (if September gets the hots) Gazpacho, to a warming Split Pea with Ham. Having this Super-Smooth Hummus on hand is perfect for a pantry.

Brighten their homework-weary hearts by learning the lesson of how “Flavor Matches” add zip and zest to meals by preparing a Basil & Balsamic Berry Salad or the famed Southwestern trio of tasties nicknamed “The Three Sacred Sisters.”

Mains: My favorite marinara sauce for most any form of pasta is Lidia Bastianich’s, and can be put together from canned or jarred tomatoes or, indeed, those lingerers on the vines from your garden.

Great do-ahead, freezable, and warming preparations that I dearly love to eat include Bigos, a Polish stew, and Migas, a Spanish dish that eats up leftover bread. Also eminently make-ahead and freezable: any braised red Meat With Bones.

But many vegetables braise too! Check out this terrific recipe of Carrot & Parsnip Osso Buco for over polenta, rice, or bulghur wheat.

Videos on Wine: In 2011, while I lived and worked in Chicago, a team of us put together a TV series called “Wine at 45.” It didn’t take off, but much of the footage remains, and it’s evergreen with wine appreciation tips and winemaking lore. Here are clips on How to Taste Wine Using Your Senses, Why Cool Climate is Food Climate, How Grapevines Grow in the Vineyard, and Why Roses Grow at the End of Vinerows.

Also, here are some additional wine vids: On Using Corkscrews, How to Order Wine at a Restaurant, and How to Get Out That Broken Cork from the neck of that bottle of wine you’re struggling to open.