Fish

This classic Roman soup appears on many menus in the city, but we were disappointed with the versions we were served. Our recipe is more of a crowd pleaser. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min

To make things even easier, use a cabbage slaw mix. Serve with: Deli rice salad.

This bread is adapted from Jean Lemlin's recipe, from our March 1994 issue.

Serve with: Warm corn tortillas, Spanish rice, and grilled zucchini. Dessert: Fresh coconut cake from the bakery.

"I have just returned from London, where I stayed at the beautiful Lanesborough hotel across from Hyde Park," writes Marjorie Wordingham of Mequon, Wisconsin. "I had the most delicious salmon with Thai-style vegetables and rice at its restaurant, The Conservatory."

The Mediterranean fish soup bourride is something like a bouillabaisse but has a consistency more like stew. Instead of putting the aïoli directly into the soup, as is traditional, Adams likes to dollop it onto toasts.

Once the mustard butter is prepared and the chicken is marinated, this quick sauté comes together in just minutes. Any leftover fennel-mustard butter makes an instant sauce dolloped onto grilled fish.

Cranberry sauce or huckleberry preserves can be substituted for the lingonberry preserves. Serve with: Roasted fingerling potatoes tossed with dill, and a mixed green salad.

A whole mackerel or bluefish is about 2 feet long, so you will just be able to fit it on an angle in a large rectangular gas grill or a wide oven; see cooks' notes, below. You might want to measure your grill (or oven) before choosing a fish to make sure you'll have enough room. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 1 hr

If you prefer, use honeydew melon for an equally good salsa. Offer buttered new potatoes and sautéed spinach with the fish. Afterward, serve slices of pound cake with rum-soaked raisins and store-bought caramel sauce. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

These steaks are delicious served with creamed spinach and roasted new potatoes.

The flavorful olive salad is also nice with sea bass, red snapper or tuna. Serve with steamed new potatoes, and uncork a Sauvignon Blanc to go with dinner.

Note: To slice the cucumber in the following recipe into a paper-thin spiral, we used a Japanese rotary device known as the Benriner vegetable slicer.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. A spicy pepper coating and an Asian-style sauce give these tuna steaks an intense flavor. Joan serves mashed or oven-roasted sweet potatoes alongside. Look for the sesame oil in the Asian foods section of the supermarket.

Liptauer gained its name from the provenance of the fresh sheep's milk cheese with which it was originally made, Lipto, Hungary. Our version of this seasoned spread is made with cream cheese.