Lagasse's favorite cooking partners are his wife, Alden, and his son, Emeril John IV, known as E.J. Recipes: Seared Halibut With Sweet Corn, Tomato and Cucumber Relish Shrimp Ragout With Rice Seared Salmon With Vegetable Lentils Pasta Bolognese With Sausage Dry-Aged Sirloin Steaks Alternate Wine Suggestions See also: Wine Spectator Menus More than 150 wine-friendly recipes, including recommended wine matches

When Emeril Lagasse thinks about dinner, the chef and the wine lover get equal time.

I asked Lagasse to choose five of his favorite wines and cook dishes for them. He did not recruit a squadron of chefs to help assemble some of the many-layered creations that characterize the cuisine at Emeril's. Instead he went it alone in his home kitchen, as if he were cooking dinner for his family and a few invited guests. As a result, the dishes-not a menu, but an assortment of entrées-have a simplicity and ease of preparation that will reward your efforts even if you're not a professional chef.

Likewise, instead of plundering the extensive collection of great older wines at the restaurant for this project, he elected to pull bottles from his home cellar. The lineup builds from light, lively whites to a rich, full-figured Cabernet Sauvignon. That progression lends itself to a menu that ranges from delicate halibut with fresh vegetable relish to a hefty steak with a splash of Lagasse's own homemade Worcestershire sauce.

Lagasse chose all California wines for a reason. "It's not that I don't love Portugal," he adds, alluding to his family's ancestral home. "It's not that I don't love Burgundy. I've had great tastings with Madame [Lalou] Bize-Leroy and a lot of the great producers there. For a couple of years, it seems we drank nothing but Burgundy at home. But I want to support my country's wines above all others."

The menu begins with Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley 2002 (87, $22), the target for the halibut dish. The wine plays the zinginess of its citrus and herbal flavors against a roundess of texture and a hint of spiciness from oak. Lagasse thinks of Sauvignon Blanc as a luncheon wine, or something to drink before easing into the richer textures of a Chardonnay.

"Some people think it's just a seafood wine," he says. "I think it's great with vegetables. I am relying on the leanness of the halibut and the clean flavors of the relish components to be a good match with the Duckhorn."

The wine works just as he hopes. The Sauvignon Blanc's ripe melon flavors and tangy citrus balance fit snugly with the light sweetness of the corn and tomato on the fish. Revealing a glimpse of his wine-matching savvy, Lagasse adds, "If I were to add some vanilla bean to the relish, which would taste good, it would point me to a Chardonnay or something richer to make a better balance."

Chardonnay, in fact, is Lagasse's next choice. The bottle, Francis Ford Coppola Chardonnay Carneros Director's Reserve 2002 (NR, $22), a gift from the movie director and vintner, is an exceptional wine. It achieves the verve and balance that more California winemakers are coaxing from this white Burgundian grape, as opposed to the fat richness that characterizes so many California Chardonnays. This one is silky and elegant, coating the palate with creamy pear and peach flavors, finishing with a touch of pineapple and lime.

To match it, Lagasse goes for a simple variation of shrimp cooked scampi-style in olive oil with garlic. He gives it a subtle New Orleans touch with a sprinkling of green onions, served over a homey rice pilaf. "Ten months out of the year we get great shrimp here," he notes. "Guys are selling fresh shrimp out of Styrofoam coolers on the street, and it's the best stuff. Shrimp has the richness to stand up to this Chardonnay."

Like many a veteran food-and-wine matcher, Lagasse hedges his bet by splashing some of the Coppola Chardonnay into the pan with the shrimp, creating a ready-made bridge between the dish and the wine. He squeezes a few drops of lemon in as well, noting that he is careful not to add too much because it can overpower the wine. It doesn't, but the handful of chopped garlic does put a crimp in the wine's flavor profile, making it seem simpler than it is by itself. Next time, he agrees, less garlic.

Next up is Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Russian River Valley 2001 (91, $39), with its deft balance and smooth texture supporting rich, refined flavors of ripe cherry, raspberry and just the right touch of toasty oak.

"Now it's gonna start getting interesting," he says, peeling plastic wrap from a plate of vivid coral-colored salmon fillets. "This is wild salmon. Look at that, it's like a jewel. Salmon has just the right weight for Pinot Noir, better than meat, in my opinion. We're going to cook the salmon very simply, leaving it medium-rare, and put it over a lentil stew with a lot of vegetables in it. It's a dish we have at least once a week."

The lentils also sport the meaty, smoky flavors of bacon, used to add extra depth to the dish. "I usually don't add bacon at home, but I wanted a little more fat component with this wine," he notes. "I wanted to challenge some of that fruit a little bit. This should be a no-brainer with Pinot Noir. If I made this with fava beans instead of lentils, or if I brought in another component, like artichokes, that would turn it in a different direction. We're going for the downtown, straight-down-the-alley Pinot Noir idea."

He spoons a small mound of lentils onto each plate, tops it with a piece of salmon, then leans a single strand of green onion against the fillet. No sauce. "I'm trying to go dead-on like the wines are, no coulis, no fancy sauces, nothing too complicated. I don't want to take anything away from them."

The match is a home run. The flavors and textures on the plate all enhance the essential elements of the wine, making it taste just a little more of black fruit such as currants and plums, even polishing up the texture, upgrading it from velvet to silk.

Chappellet Sangiovese Napa Valley 2000 (NR, $13) is the last vintage the winery made of this varietal before pulling out the vines and replanting with Cabernet Sauvignon. Lagasse says the wine reminds him of a Tuscan red, and indeed it has the tang of cherries and rose petals, finishing with a peppery note and a grip of edgy tannins, just like a good Chianti. Fresh fettuccine with a homey mélange of tomatoes and sausage tames the tannins and lets the natural flavors of the wine come through unimpaired.

"This is another dish we eat once a week, because we all like pasta," he says. "Sometimes we do it with penne, sometimes with spaghetti or linguine. This is a really simple, on-the-stove Bolognese sauce. I usually make it with ground turkey meat. The sausage adds a little extra flavor."

The final wine is a California classic, Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2001 (92, $70). "You gotta splurge somewhere," shrugs the chef, "so I'm going all out on the food to go with it. I got aged sirloin [about a 1-pound steak almost an inch and a half thick]. I could have taken it from Delmonico's, but I got it from the butcher. He said it was dry-aged for 30 to 35 days. Meat that good, all you need is to season it with salt and pepper and put it on a hot grill to char all around. And I wanted you to taste my homemade Worcestershire with it."

To go with the steak, Lagasse had earlier prepared home versions of a couple of steak house classics, creamed spinach and scalloped potatoes, which he reheats by baking them in gratin dishes. Onto each plate he spoons a small helping of the potatoes, then cuts two half-inch-thick slices off the 1-pound steak to overlap on top. A ladleful of creamed spinach goes on the side and a teaspoon of the homemade Worcestershire moistens the meat.

It makes a rich course, but this dish is meant for a special occasion. The wine delivers the depth, power and refinement the dish demands. The classic Cabernet flavors of currants and berries have rich texture and herbal overtones, a paradigm of a California Cabernet, and this might just be the perfect dish for it-hearty, yet with enough variation of flavor and texture elements to make the wine show a slightly different facet with each bite.