Herbs & Spices

Salsa de Tomatillos y Lima This tart, mildly spicy, and bright green salsa is so delicious that you might want to double the recipe to have extra on hand. It's great mixed into guacamole or veggie sautés (for a little tangy kick). Or try it as a topping for anything from nachos to scrambled eggs to baked potatoes. This recipe is an accompaniment for Oval Masa Cakes with Goat Cheese Filling .

Lee Schmidt of Wichita, Kansas, writes: "My wife and I just returned from our honeymoon in Mexico. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the elegant Mahakua Hacienda de San Antonio in Colima. Our last night there, we dined on the rooftop terrace and shared an amazing pineapple tartlet." Dice any leftover pineapple and use it, with its caramel syrup, as an ice cream topping.

If smoked paprika isn't available, substitute four teaspoons of chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, which are available at Latin American markets, specialty foods stores, and in the Latin American foods section of many supermarkets.

Serve over freshly steamed vegetables.

Raita, an Indian yogurt dish used as a condiment, is often made with cucumber or tomatoes. This version features mango. Serve it with the Tandoori Chicken Salad or alongside grilled pork or fish.

A vegetable and herb filling adds another element to an unusual and impressive version of a classic Passover main course.

Mint and capers grow everywhere on Sicily, and anchovies are always available. Here they enhance another island crop: artichokes.

The pink-peppercorn garnish gives this chilled soup a pretty spring look.

This salsa is best made a few hours ahead so the flavors have a chance to develop.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Limpa—a moist rye bread from Sweden—is often flavored with aniseed (or fennel), caraway seeds, and orange zest. These same ingredients also come together to produce the following fragrant muffins. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Simmering cobs in the corn-broth mixture gives the soup extra flavor.

Garlic mashed potatoes and green beans sprinkled with toasted almonds are perfect with this dish.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires additional unattended time.

Leave the roots on the leeks while simmering them so they don't fall apart. Afterward, trim off the roots very close to the bulb end.

I like to make this intensely flavored sugar and use it in all my baking. The flavor of vanilla always improves a cake, cookies or a tart, and can even add an alluring flavor to bread. This sugar is also delicious stirred into plain yogurt, sprinkled atop buttered toast and for dipping strawberries.

Caramelizing the top of this pudding adds an extra depth of flavor, but it's equally delicious without doing it. A blowtorch works best here; the broiler didn't give us the uniform browning we wanted.

The classic twosome presented in the perfect after-dinner mint.