Times are bad. Unemployment is up, the stock market is down and it looks like the next Great Depression may be upon us. For food lovers this is a particularly unpalatable notion, since it raises the possibility that we'll have to forgo lobster and organic, hydroponic, locally-grown mesclun mix in favor of boiled shoe leather and tossed grass clippings. At the very least, we fear it might mean giving up fancy restaurant dinners and cooking cheap, bland meals at home.

These dark days call for a Gastronomic Stimulus Package, a plan for the nation that will allow the American people to eat well on a budget. Spurred by a sense of civic duty to provide just such a road map to inexpensive gustatory delight, we laid the following challenge before three of New Haven's top chefs: Show us how to make a delicious dinner at home for four people for less than $20.

Joining us were New Haven chefs Chris Sanseverino from Caseus (93 Whitney Ave.), Manuel Romero from Ibiza (39 High St.) and Jeff Ghazali from Bentara (76 Orange St.). The rules were that we would take them shopping and then to a normal home kitchen to cook up something grand.

All three chefs rose to the challenge, preparing delectable budget feasts.

New Haven native Chris Sanseverino, Caseus' mohawked head chef, took us step-by-step through making sweet-spicy homemade pork sausage with fennel seeds, served over orecchiette (pasta shaped like little ears), broccoli rabe and fresh ricotta. We finished the night with sizzling bananas topped with caramel sauce and whipped cream.

Not long ago, this city's only claim to culinary fame was its pizza. Thin-crust pies were introduced here by Neapolitan immigrants nearly a century ago, as I learned from Robin Goldstein, coauthor of a new dining guide to New Haven. A century later, much has changed. The Neapolitan pizzas are still worth writing about, but less than half a mile away, an upscale Southeast Asian restaurant is sharply redefining the city's dining scene.

Malaysian chef Jeff Ghazali presides over the kitchen at Bentara ("bentara" was the title given to the king's highest-ranking servant in Malaysia's pre-republic days). Those unfamiliar with Malaysian cuisine may be surprised at how recognizable it is. Spread on an equatorial curve along the old trade routes of the South China Sea, Malaysia has always been a natural site for the explosive mingling of Eastern and Western cultures. Traces of Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, Thai, Portuguese, Dutch, and British influence inform the work of Malay chefs, making theirs one of the most ancient colonial-fusion cuisines in the world.