Jalapeño

The juices from the clams combine with spicy Asian flavors to make a great pasta sauce.

In India, chicken is one of the most popular foods cooked in the tandoor, the ubiquitous clay oven. The secret to the bird's distinctive taste and tender texture is a yogurt marinade enhanced with spices. Here we pour one over chicken breasts, which are cooked on a grill. The chicken is served on toasted bread spread with a mayonnaise spiked with mint, cilantro and chili, flavors common in Indian relishes. Try to find Indian beer such as Taj Mahal or Kingfisher to go along with the meal. Offer fresh mangoes for dessert.

(Spicy Chicken Crêpes)

These easy-to-make meatless sandwiches are nice for a picnic. Wrap them in plastic, and transport them in a cooler.

Serve the baked fish with rice and a salad of tomatoes, cucumber and green onions.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less but requires addtional sitting time. Serve this salad as a fiery first course for an Asian-style entrée such as a stir-fry, or use it as a side dish for grilled chicken or fish.

The soy-based sauce for these kebabs draws its various intensely flavored ingredients-cilantro, garlic, ginger and chilies-from the equatorial hot zone, where weather and food alike are fiery.

Serve the dressing on shrimp salad, chicken salad or mixed greens; add diced jicama and fresh cilantro leaves to the salad for even more flavor.

With some warm corn bread, this chili is a meal in itself. You wouldn't know there was chocolate in the recipe, but it adds a subtle depth of flavor to the dish.

Great with tortilla chips as a dip. Or try it as a vegetarian filling for burritos adding grated Monterey Jack cheese, too.

"I run my own salon, and I’m an instructor at a cooking school," writes Sandy Ercolano of Ridgewood, New Jersey. "It seems that I’m always in the kitchen. At home I cook meals and come up with recipes for my classes. My son Andrew appears to have inherited my culinary interest. He likes to lend a hand with the cooking, especially with desserts. Unfortunately, he’s not as interested in helping with the cleanup."

At Las Ventanas this soup and a corn soup are ladled side by side into the serving bowl.

Bean thread noodles (also known as cellophane noodles) come in varying widths. For this recipe we like the wider (1/4-inch) noodles.

Happily, this fish dish can be made a day ahead. Simply remove it from the refrigerator and arrange 2 hours before serving. Even better, the sauce also can be made 2 days ahead and kept, well covered, in the refrigerator. It's from Mexico, One Plate at a Time (Scribner), by Rick Bayless, the celebrated Chicago chef and cookbook author.