1 pound fresh asparagus stalks, washed, tough stems cut away

¼ pound butter (if unsalted, add ¼ teaspoon salt)

Fresh cracked pepper, to taste

1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley

Juice of one medium lemon

Place asparagus in a steamer basket. Place steamer basket into a large pot with about a half inch of boiling water in the bottom, and cover. Steam asparagus until bright green, but still a bit crisp, about 3-7 minutes, depending on the size of the asparagus.

While asparagus is steaming, melt butter in a small saucepan. Add salt, pepper, parsley, and lemon juice and whisk well. Pour into serving bowl.

Remove steamed asparagus. Place on oblong platter. Place the bowl of butter on one end of the platter with a small ladle for guests to pour it over their asparagus as they serve themselves.

Serve warm.

Two pounds fresh green beans, washed, ends and strings removed

1 pound good-quality smoked bacon, sliced

½ cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic, cleaned and minced

Preheat oven to 350° F.

On a sheet pan, cookie sheet, or jelly-roll pan (a large, flat pan with an edge sufficient to prevent the grease you’re about to make from running all over your nice, clean oven), divide the green beans in bundles of roughly 10-12 beans, with beans bundles laid out in parallel formation.

Wrap each bundle loosely with a slice of bacon, tying it on top with a simple knot and arranging the loose ends artistically.

In a bowl, whisk the olive oil and the garlic. Brush oil liberally over the green-bean bundles.

Bake until the bacon is cooked to taste and the green beans are warmed through, approximately 15 minutes.

Remove bundles to a serving platter, using a spatula. Serve warm.

2 pounds small red new potatoes, scrubbed, peels still on

1 cup sour cream

1 small bundle fresh chives, washed and chopped (about 4 tablespoons)

6 slices precooked bacon, crumbled

Kosher salt, to taste

Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

3 ounces good sharp Cheddar cheese, finely grated

Boil the red potatoes in enough water to cover until they are fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain the potatoes, and let cool enough that they are easy to handle.

Cut each potato in half. On the uncut end of each half, slice away a small amount of peel and flesh so the potato half will sit flat and securely on a platter. Using a melon baller or a spoon, scoop out the middle of the potato. Arrange the prepared halves on a broiler-safe serving tray.

Make the filling by mixing the sour cream, chives, bacon, and salt and pepper to taste. If the bacon is very salty, I often don’t add additional salt. Spoon filling into potato halves. Sprinkle with grated Cheddar cheese. At this point the tray can be set aside, or even refrigerated, until ready to cook.

Place under broiler until cheese begins to melt and filling begins to bubble, about 3-5 minutes.

Serve warm.

½ cup canola oil

¾ cup cornmeal (preferably stone-ground, but regular will work if you can’t find the good stuff)

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons cold butter

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs, beaten

½ cup grated Cheddar cheese (Sharp is what I prefer, but use a cheese you like eating.)

1 bunch chives, washed and chopped (about 4 tablespoons)

8 slices precooked smoked bacon, chopped into ¼-inch strips

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Put 1 tablespoon of canola oil into each well of a standard 12-cup muffin pan, and place muffin pan into oven to heat the oil.

Meanwhile, working quickly, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar together into a large mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until the butter is blended in. Add buttermilk and eggs all at once, and stir just until ingredients are barely blended. A few lumps are fine; this batter gets tough if you overwork it. Add the cheese, chives, and bacon, stirring only until the ingredients are roughly mixed in.

Pull hot muffin tin from oven. Drop batter into the muffin cups, filling each roughly three-quarters full. The hot oil should make the batter bubble and brown on the sides. Place pan into oven and cook until muffins are done and golden, roughly 20-25 minutes.

I like to serve them hot, but they’re great at room temperature, too.

I have to make an admission here: When it comes to bread making, I cheat. The pastry chefs at the White House do most of the baking, so it isn’t a problem at work. But at home, I use a bread machine. I set it on the dough setting and let the machine handle the kneading. Then I shape the dough by hand and let it do a final rise in the pan or pans of my choice. I actually like kneading bread by hand, but I’m busy, so I sacrifice the fun of kneading for the time I save by letting the machine handle it. The instructions here are for any standard bread machine.

2½ tablespoons (1 standard packet) granulated dry yeast

4-4½ cups bread flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

¼ cup nonfat dried milk

1 egg, beaten

1-1½ cups lukewarm water

⅓ cup olive oil

Set your bread machine to the dough setting. Add the yeast, 4 cups flour, sugar, salt, milk, egg, 1 cup water, and the oil to the bread machine vessel. Turn on bread machine. After 4 minutes, look at the dough. If it’s too floury, add water a few drops at a time, until the dough looks right. If it’s too runny, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough looks right. The dough should look smooth and have a texture that feels roughly like the lobe of your ear when you pinch it-yielding but resilient. Balance the flour and water additions until you reach that middle point where the dough comes together nicely in a ball without being too watery or too stiff. Then walk away and let the machine do its thing. Most machines take around 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1½ hours to run the dough cycle. The machine will usually beep when it’s finished.

When the dough is done, unplug the machine. Grease the wells of two standard muffin tins with a spray-on like Pam or Baker’s Choice, or rub with shortening. Pinch off balls of dough roughly the size of golf balls, and place a ball in each muffin-tin well. When manipulating the dough, it makes the resulting bread prettier if you stretch the pinched dough ends to the back of the ball, and put that side bottom down in the tin, leaving a smooth, rounded surface at the top of each roll.

Cover the tins with a damp dish towel and set aside to let rise until doubled in size. This time can vary enormously, depending on the temperature of the site where you are resting the dough. The warmer it is, the faster the dough will rise. In a busy commercial kitchen, where the temperature often hovers around the 100° mark, it generally takes about 30 minutes-but if it gets much hotter than that, the yeast will start to die and the bread will start to cook, so don’t let the air temperature get over 100°. In a 70° home kitchen, it can take as long as two hours. A long, slow rise time often imparts more flavor to the bread. I find that putting the tins in a cool oven over a pan filled with hot water is just about perfect. The heat from the water warms the space, and the steam keeps the dough from drying out.