Instructions: Magda was raised in Poland but as a young girl during World War II was forced to leave. She married a Frenchman from Antibes and they settled in Paris, first on Boulevard Saint Germain, then in a large third-floor flat in a hundred-year-old building whose French doors overlook the fountain on Place Saint Michel.

In her kitchen she has dried mushrooms strung on long strings like beads, arranged according to size from two inches to a quarter inch. They hang from the ceiling like little upside-down trees.

I stayed with Magda and her family when I first lived in Paris and was studying cuisine at the Ritz. We had lots of French food at her home, but I was also introduced to some Polish cooking. She made borscht on a cold night, a warm stew of pork and prunes or a veal stew with dried mushrooms, sweet onion and a touch of heavy cream. All of these dishes are variations on the originals, Im sure. Memories of her childhood inspired the dishes but after living more than 20 years in Paris, tastes change and new creations are formed.

Magda makes a particular dinner I love. Roasted lamb with a crust of fresh herbs, spinach and bread crumbs, served with tomatoes and green beans. The method is simple, and the result is understated and wonderful.

Magda usually chooses a leg of lamb or a lamb sirloin roast for this dish.

She coats the lamb with salt, placing an even amount on all sides. Even in exceptional restaurants, one sometimes finds meats where the salt is either missing in wide areas or where it is twice as thick as it should be.

After the salt, she covers the lamb with freshly ground pepper and lets it rest for 20 minutes, allowing the seasoning to set and the lamb to come closer to room temperature.

While the lamb sits, Magda removes the crust from a pain levain (a white country loaf) and cuts it into large dice, then runs it briefly in a food processor. To this she adds oil, herbs, seasonings, parsley and spinach. Then she pulses this all down to a rough or crumbly meal.

She uses fresh bread because it produces a different crumb than dry. The crumbs are less uniform in size, which creates a more interesting and crisper coating for the lamb.

While the lamb cooks, Magda halves and seeds tomatoes. She tops them with some of the bread and spinach mixture and browns them in the oven, carefully timing it so that the roast and the tomatoes are ready to serve at the same time.

She blanches the green beans until they are just past al dente, which is the way she prefers them. Salt heightens the taste and helps retain the beans bright color.

Magda removes the lamb from the oven and lets it rest for 10 minutes. This allows the outside of the roast to relax and retain moisture and the inside to continue cooking slowly from residual heat. When the cooking process begins, the outside of the roast contracts, pushing all the moisture to the inside where the lamb is still cool and relaxed. Resting allows the juice to return to the outer edges and set. This way only minimal amounts of juice will be released when slicing. When the roast finishes resting, Magda warms the beans, tossing them with a tiny bit of olive oil and a few sprigs of thyme.

This meal is perfect for spring. Magda served it in the dining room on the long dark table. The entree was followed by a crisp tender green salad with a mustard and red wine vinaigrette and after that, a bit of cheese.

This is the type of cooking I love in a home, where inspiration and the necessity to feed a family every day lead the way. Just as we finished our meal one night, the streetlights went on and a gentle rain began in the Place Saint Michel, sending the waiters out to pull in the chairs. We sat back enjoying our coffee as the trees rustled outside the window.

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